FLIGHT OF FAVOUR -2

Coirfed service as teaching experience? Even HC remark didn't break Arunkumar's IHRD stint

In a two-part series, Flight of Favour, Onmanorama delves into the questionable rise of veteran CPM leader VS Achuthanandan's son VA Arunkumar at IHRD. Read Part 1: The dubious reign of VS's son in government-funded IHRD.

Despite having no teaching or research experience, VA Arunkumar, son of veteran Marxist leader VS Achuthanandan, always held important posts specifically set aside for teachers and researchers at the Institute of Human Resources Development (IHRD). In 2005, he was made the principal of an IHRD College of Applied Science but worked in the post for only one day, the day he took charge. Then, in 2008, he was appointed as the Joint Director based on a bogus teaching experience certificate issued by the institute's Director.
Arunkumar's teaching experience certificate, however, was exposed when he used it outside the IHRD ecosystem. Over the past 27 years at the Institute of Human Resources Development (IHRD), his career has surged whenever the LDF was in power. Today, he is on the verge of becoming the Director of IHRD.

Achuthanandan, however, has maintained that he played no role in his son's professional rise. However, neither the veteran leader nor his party can fully escape the lingering shadow of nepotism on his career. On January 3, 1997, when EK Nayanar was the Chief Minister, Arunkumar was appointed the Assistant Director of IHRD on a consolidated salary. On October 29, 1998, he was appointed as Assistant Director (Software) on a regular basis.

Both appointments raised eyebrows because according to IHRD rules, an Assistant Director should have three years of teaching, industrial or administrative experience, and the post is open only to IHRD's lecturers, engineers and systems analysts. In IHRD's lingo, the 'method of appointment' was through these three categories of employees of the institute. Arunkumar was appointed in violation of the rules.

"At that time, he only held an MCA degree and his administrative experience was running a travel agency," said RS Sasikumar, chairman of the Save University Campaign Committee (SUCC), a whistle-blower organisation. Over the years, he acquired a Master's degree in Business Law, a Bachelor of Laws (LLB), and a diploma in Cyber Law, apart from a PhD. But seven months as the Assistant Director of IHRD, he was deputed as the Managing Director of Coirfed, the apex federation of primary coir cooperatives in Kerala.

After a two-year stint in Coirfed, Arunkumar returned to IHRD as Assistant Director on June 21, 2001, shortly after the Nayanar government's five-year term ended. While serving as Assistant Director, Arunkumar was unusually given the charge of Joint Director in February 2005, bypassing the intermediate position of Deputy Director. On July 16, 2005, he was promoted as the Principal of the College of Applied Science at Kattappana in Idukki.

After taking charge, he returned to the IHRD headquarters the next day. IHRD said he was called back in a day because of a shortage of senior staff at the headquarters. So his new position read Principal, in charge of Joint Director at IHRD. Insiders said Arunkumar's position as Principal was a primer for the post of Joint Director. On October 13, 2008, he was appointed as a full-time Joint Director.

According to IHRD rules, the Joint Directors must have seven years of teaching/ industrial experience and three years of administrative experience under IHRD service. The method of appointment involved selecting from the categories of Assistant Professors, Deputy Directors, and Principals of IHRD. Arunkumar was able to attend the interview for the post of Joint Director only because the then Director of IHRD (V Subrahmony) issued a "certificate" saying he had teaching experience, the then Principal Secretary of Higher Education KM Abraham told a sub-committee of the Legislative Assembly on December 2, 2011.

Subrahmony's letter to Arunkumar dated January 28, 2006, read: "Certified that VA Arunkumar, Principal, in-charge of Joint Director, IHRD, has been under the service of IHRD under various academic responsibilities, including teaching from January 3, 1997."

Abraham said several professors and principals in IHRD were eligible for the post of the Joint Director. Prof Vinu Thomas, the dean of Kerala Technological University, has challenged his appointment as the Joint Director in the High Court.

Arunkumar's claim of teaching experience started to unravel in 2009 when he used the same certificate issued by the Director to enrol in a part-time PhD programme at the University of Kerala. The university exempted teachers with seven years of teaching experience from the entrance test, which he sought to take advantage of. The University gave him admission but later cancelled the registration after finding he had no teaching experience. Arunkumar approached the High Court seeking justice.

When Judge S Siri Jagan called for the breakup of the teaching experience, Director Subrahmony "strained very much" to find seven teaching years for Arunkumar. The Director told the court that Arunkumar conducted training programmes and courses for various clients, including master trainers and school teachers, and that he conducted online courses in Linux. The director "has tried to rope in the service in Coirfed also as part of IHRD service", observed the amused court in the judgment.

"The experience, even if academic in nature, hardly qualifies as teaching experience," the High Court ruled, citing the Kerala University Act, which specified the responsibilities of a teacher. The court upheld the University of Kerala's decision to cancel Arunkumar's part-time PhD registration.

Despite the judgment exposing his lack of teaching experience, Arunkumar continued to hold the post of IHRD Joint Director — propped up by the very same 'experience certificate'. He later used his experience as Joint Director and clout within the government to become the Additional Director. According to Abraham, the interview board that selected Achithanandan's son as Additional Director originally consisted of three members: Commissioner for Entrance Examination, Director of Technical Education, and Director of Collegiate Education. But in the interview, Arunkumar's trusted boss, IHRD Director, was also present, and the Director of Collegiate Education was represented by the Additional Director of Collegiate Education. All this happened when his father was the Chief Minister.

Sasikumar, based on RTI replies, said in the final months of Achuthanandan's government, it created the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Academy with funding from the Union government and positioned Arunkumar as its director.

An Assembly committee, headed by current Opposition Leader VD Satheesan also came to that conclusion. After demitting office, Achuthanandan, as the Leader of the Opposition, denied the allegations over ICT Academy. Speaking at a function in Kanhangad on November 12, 2011, Achuthanandan said the file (to appoint his son as Director of ICT Academy) did come before him. Still, he asked the officials to defer the decision till the new government took charge. Sasikumar said that the amendment of IHRD policies to favour one person in 2024 proved that Arunkumar continued to enjoy the patronage of the LDF government.