VC: ALL STEPS FOLLOWED FOR PRITA’S SELECTION

KANNUR: A day after the Kerala High Court allowed a petition against the proposed appointment of a Malayalam associate professor that had triggered a political row, the Kannur University on Friday claimed that all procedures mandated by the UGC had been followed in the selection and indicated that the varsity would not go for appeal.

Kannur University ViceChancellor Gopinath Ravindran said a legal opinion was sought before the selection of Priya Varghese, wife of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s private secretary K K Ragesh, to the faculty post.

Though a clarification was sought from the UGC regarding her qualification, no reply was received till date and if the apex academic body had given a reply to his letter, the issue would not have become worse, he told reporters here.

“The letter was sent to the UGC for clarification in the point whether the period spent by the candidate for the PhD research on deputation granted by the state government under the Faculty Development Programme (FDP) be considered as teaching research experience for direct recruitment for the post of Associate Professor,” the varsity’s VC said.