LDF govt recommends extensions for Digital, KTU V-C; whistleblower links it to VS son's post

Kasaragod: The LDF government on Monday wrote to Governor Arif Mohammed Khan recommending an extension to Prof Saji Gopinath as the Vice-Chancellor of Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology (known as Digital University of Kerala). If the recommendation is accepted, he is likely to continue as the Vice Chancellor in charge of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU), an affiliating and teaching university, with more than 170 affiliated engineering colleges in the state.

Prof Gopinath, a faculty member of the Indian Institute of Management - Kozhikode, enjoys the pleasure of both the LDF government and the Governor, who is the ex-officio Chancellor of the two universities, said a Raj Bhavan official. The government tapped him to head the Kerala Startup Mission in 2017, and after three years, when the Digital University of Kerala was established in 2020, he was appointed as its founding Vice-Chancellor. His term comes to an end on October 24.

On March 31, 2023, Governor Khan selected him from a panel of three names recommended by the government to serve as Vice-Chancellor in charge of KTU, resolving a prolonged standoff between the two offices. Khan’s previous appointee, Dr. Ciza Thomas, faced strong resistance from both the government and the university until her retirement on March 31, 2023.

Minister for Higher Education, Bindu R, told Onmanorama that the government sent a panel of three names to Raj Bhavan for the Vice-Chancellor of Digital University of Kerala and KTU. The names included Prof Gopinath and Director of Technical Education, Prof Shalij PR, whose parent institute is Government Engineering College, Thrissur.

The government is expecting the Governor to appoint one Vice Chancellor for the two universities. "Now we have one V-C for the two universities. It is up to the Governor to decide," Minister Bindu said.

Meanwhile, the higher education whistleblower organisation Save University Campaign Committee (SUCC) alleged that the names of Prof Saji Gopinath and Prof Shalij PR in the government's panel for VCs of the two universities was a reward for allegedly selecting VS Achuthanandan's son V A Arunkumar as the director of Institute of Human Resources Development (IHRD).

Digital Kerala University V-C Prof Gopinath and Director of Technical Education Prof Shalij were experts in the selection committee that interviewed Arunkumar for the top post at IHRD on October 9. "Arunkumar was not eligible to hold the Director's post as per AICTE regulations or the original rules of IHRD. But the two experts were under tremendous pressure to rank Arunkumar first in the interview," said RS Sasikumar, chairman of the Save University Campaign Committee.

The other members of the selection committee were Higher Education Principal Secretary Ishita Roy, former CUSAT Vice-Chancellor PG Sankaran, and Higher Education Additional Secretary Ajayan C.

Sasikumar said six candidates, including Arunkumar, attended the interview, of which five candidates were principals and senior professors serving in various engineering colleges under IHRD.

Ahead of the interview, the government, on the recommendation of Arunkumar, the director-in-charge of IHRD, changed the eligibility criteria and added "seven years as additional director of IHRD" as an alternative criterion. The addition made educational qualifications and experience prescribed by AICTE redundant. "Yet the selection committee initially ranked Arunkumar in the sixth position. But the government pressured it to give him the first rank," alleged Sasikumar, a veteran higher education activist considered to have a deep source in the government.

He said the Higher Education Department will issue the appointment order to Arunkumar after the State Assembly session concludes on Tuesday, October 15.

He said the government has rushed through the interview despite a writ petition challenging Arunkumar's appointment as Additional Director of IHRD and the tampering of eligibility for the Director's post is coming up for hearing on October 23 in the High Court of Kerala.

Technical education regulator AICTE has already filed its response to the petition saying Arunkumar was ineligible for the Director's post and the government decision to water down the eligibility would not stand the scrutiny of law.

Sasikumar said IHRD, which runs nearly 100 technical institutes in Kerala, implemented the AICTE's pay scale in February 2001 with a retrospective effect from 1996. "It cannot conveniently adopt AICTE's regulations for pay packages and ignore its standards for recruitment," he said.