Nepotism charge hits Kerala govt; Governor freezes appointment of CPIM leader's wife
It should be noted that Priya Varghese, the wife of K.K Rajesh former MP, who is the current private secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was selected as an Associate Professor in the Department of Malayalam.
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Kochi, August 17: In a major development, Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan, wielding his powers as the Chancellor, stayed the appointment of Associate Professor in the Department of Malayalam at Kannur University.
It should be noted that Priya Varghese, the wife of K.K Rajesh former MP, who is the current private secretary of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was selected as an Associate Professor in the Department of Malayalam.
The release read, "The Hon'ble Chancellor has invoked the provisions of Section 7(3) of the Kannur University Act, 1996 in this decision. Show cause notices to all stakeholders are being issued separately. The decision of the Hon'ble Chancellor has been conveyed to the University."
Talking about his decision, Khan, in a conversation with the media, said, "As long as I am the Vice-Chancellor, I will make sure that there will be no favouritism and nepotism."
Governor took this action after the save university campaign committee wrote a letter to Khan alleging that the wife of the CM's private secretary was given preference over deserving candidates.
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In the letter, the committee pointed out that Priya Varghese had the lowest research score, fixed as per the UGC norms, among six candidates who had applied for the post in the Malayalam department in November last year.
Varghese’s research score was 156 against that of Joseph Skaria’s 651, C Ganesh’s 645, and Muhammed Rafi’s 346.
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