Lekshmi Nair Thiruvananthapuram: The withdrawal of the student agitation in the Law Academy Law College has brought a temporary relief to the government and the Kerala University, but the varsity's standing committee on examinations would have to continue its probe on the genuineness of the LLB degree of ousted principal P. Lekshmi Nair.
Prof. Madhavan Potti, who was given charge of the principal and B. Thulasi Mani, wife of CPM leader Koliyakode N. Krishnan Nair, too would have to be removed from the faculty since both of them have crossed the 65 years age limit set by the university.
There are complaints that Thulasi Mani, who heads the examination board of LLB and LLM, is 67 years old. The continuation of Potti and Thulasi Mani is in violation of the rule that the age of faculty members in self-financing colleges should not exceed 65 years.
Krishnan Nair and family are occupying the quarters in the precincts of the academy. Once his wife is removed from the faculty, they would have to vacate the quarters too.
According to a complaint filed by Syndicate member M. Jeevan Lal, Lekshmi Nair had registered for M.A. History at the Sree Venkateswara University, Tirupati, while undergoing the three-year LLB course at the Law Academy Law College here.
Kerala University does not have any record of Lekshmi Nair accepting the LLB degree, but her mark list has been included in the register.
As per rules, if a student of Kerala University pursues two courses simultaneously, the university reserves the right to cancel its degree.
For, the transfer certificate of a student issued from an institution could be produced only at one university at a time. On proving the charge, the university would have to cancel her LLB degree and that would virtually invalidate her law doctorate, too.
Since the CPM has an upper-hand in the committee, there would be pressure on the committee to defer action. But R. Lata Devi (CPI) is also a member of the committee. So far she had taken a strong stance against Lekshmi Nair. She also may be under political duress to avoid an action.
If the examination committee chooses to defer its decision, it would lead to protests in the Syndicate meeting.
When a similar charge was raised against N.K. Jayakumar, nephew of academy director N. Narayanan Nair, in 1983, he managed to wriggle out and escape punitive action by explaining that he did two courses simultaneously without knowing its consequences.
Jayakumar is presently legal consultant to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. But the Syndicate comprising Narayanan Nair had made the rules more stringent and Lekshmi Nair may not be able to go scot free on the same premise yet again.
