Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday ruled that Priya Varghese, the wife of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Secretary K.K. Ragesh, was not qualified to be considered for the post of Associate Professor in the Malayalam Department of Kannur University.
Serving a setback to the Left ruling government in the state and CM Vijayan, the court observed that the scrutiny committee failed to find out that she had the required qualifications.
The court said that all the UGC guidelines were flouted and asked the Kannur Univesity to refresh the rank list and come up with a fresh one.
A former Rajya Sabha member of the CPI-M, Ragesh is Vijayan's close aide.
An RTI query had earlier revealed that Varghese got the maximum marks (32 out of 50) in the personal interview, while Skariah scored 30, but her research score was a mere 156, while the second-ranked candidate secured 651. However, she was ranked first based on the personal interview.
An RTI query had earlier revealed that Varghese got the maximum marks (32 out of 50) in the personal interview, while second-ranked candidate Jacob Skariah scored 30, but her research score was a mere 156, while Skariah secured 651. However, she was ranked first based on the personal interview.
Further, the court ruled that Varghese did not have the prescribed experience as a teacher and all the arguments which were put forward by the Kannur University and Varghese were not sustainable as even the UGC had clearly pointed out that she lacked the necessary teaching experience.
Thus, she is not even qualified to apply for the post. But not only did she apply, she even was ranked first. However, she was not served with an appointment order since Chancellor first stayed this appointment and later, the high court also stayed all further proceedings.