Fresh row at Kannur University; best Muslim candidate in open rank list comes third in Muslim category

Kannur: Another job applicant is dragging Kannur University to court, accusing it once again of favouritism.
Safna Hussan K P was named third in the open category ranking list for the post of Assistant Professor in the university's Department of Physics. She was the first Muslim in the open category rank list. But in the Muslim category ranking list, Kannur University placed Safna at third. The first two ranks went to Ahmed Rizwaz C L and Anshida Mayeen, who were not even called for the job interview in the open competition.

Safna, who flew to France Monday night for an academic event, has authorised a lawyer to challenge the ranking in the High Court of Kerala.

The Congress-affiliated Kerala Private College Teachers' Association (KPCTA), which has taken up her cause, said Safna's case is similar to Priya Varghese's appointment in the Department of Malayalam.
Dr Varghese, the wife of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's private secretary K K Ragesh, had a research score of 156 points and was the last of the six research scholars considered for the post of Associate Professor in Kannur University's Department of Malayalam.

Dr Joseph Skariah, Assistant Professor at St Berchmans College, Changanassery, had the highest score of 651 points among the six candidates. But after the job interview held on November 18, 2021, Dr Varghese topped the ranking list with 32 points. Dr Skariah was placed second with 30 points.

On June 15, 2022, Kannur University called for applications for 31 posts of assistant professor in 17 departments in 10 categories. The Department of Physics reported two vacancies, one each in the open category and Muslim category.

On September 29, this year, the screening committee short-listed 34 candidates in the open category and 18 candidates in the Muslim category for job interview, according to the notification.

Five Muslim candidates made the cut in the open category -- Safna, Haris P, Jafar Sadiq E, Najeeb P K, and Mohammed Arif P. Among these candidates, Safna and Haris came third and sixth in the final ranking list in the open category.

In contrast, Ahmed Rizwan and Anshida Mayeen, ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the Muslim category, did not make the cut for the interview in the open category. "Safna was conveniently placed third in the Muslim category list and Haris, fourth," said Dr Shino P Jose, president of the Kannur Regional Committee of KPCTA.

Kerala considers the entire Muslim community as OBC and has carved out a sub-reservation to the community members in educational institutions and government jobs.

According to the Kerala service rules, out of every 40 direct OBC appointments other than last grade, 14 shall be given to Ezhavas, Thiyyas and Billavas, 12 to Muslims, four to Latin Catholics and Anglo Indians, two to Nadars (Hindu Nadars and Nadars included in S.I.U.C), one to Scheduled Caste Converts to Christianity, three to Viswakarmas, one to Dheevaras and three to Other Backward Classes put together. If it is last grade post, 10 out of 40 posts are set aside for Muslims.
The categories are chosen on rotation.

'Muslim candidates performed better than open category candidates'
When contacted, an official of the university said the two candidates who topped in the Muslim category did better than the Open category candidates in the interview, and much better than Safna.

He said the university got more than one hundred applications in the general category for the single Assistant Professor post in the Department of Physics. "So the screening committee introduced a cut-off score of 85 to screen out some applications," said the official who was part of the recruitment process.

Safna and Haris had more than 85 points and so they were invited for the interview in both open and Muslim categories. "Ahmed Rizwan's score was 83 points and so he was not considered in the Open category," he said.

In the Muslim category, the university got 35 applications for the lone Assistant Professor's post in the Department of Physics. "We reduced the cut-off to 55 points because the number of applications was fewer," he said.

Though the UGC mandates that a minimum of 10 applicants should be called for job interviews, the university invited 34 candidates in the open category and 18 candidates in the Muslim category, he said. "The interview board was the same for both the categories and Ahmed Rizwan and Anshida Mayeen performed better than the open category candidates in the interview. They were not considered in the open category because they scored less than the cut-off," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The score of candidates for the assistant professor's post is calculated based on marks in undergraduate courses (maximum 15), marks in postgraduate courses (25), MPhil or PhD (7 or 30), National Eligibility Test (NET) or Junior Research Fellow (5 or 7), research publication (2 points per paper, for a maximum of five papers), post-doctoral experience (2 points per year, for a maximum of five years), international or national award (maximum 3 points) and state award (2 points).

Dr Skariah of St Berchmans College, Changanassery, said if the job notification was one, there can be only one shortlist, one interview board, and one ranking list. "There were five Muslims in the Open category ranking list. They should have been considered first for the one post in the Muslim Category instead of hiring someone with a lower qualifying score," he said.

But Dr Jose of KPCTA alleged Vice-chancellor Prof Gopinath Ravindran picked a candidate of its choice and was attributing reasons for its decision. "Since the recruitment of Dr Varghese, the faculty appointments at Kannur University often run into controversy. There is no transparency in his recruitment," he said.