High Court dismisses plea against V A Arun Kumar’s appointment

KOCHI: The High Court has dismissed a petition that alleged irregularities in the appointment of Dr V A Arun Kumar, son of V S Achuthanandan, as Director at the Institute of Human Resources Development (IHRD). The petition filed by Dr Vinu Thomas, Dean of APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, was dismissed by Justice N Nagaresh. The petitioner had pointed out the possibility of Dr Arun Kumar, who is currently serving as Director in charge of IHRD, being appointed as the permanent Director.

As per the notification issued in March 2024, none of the candidates who applied for the post of permanent Director had secured the minimum 60 percent marks set by the selection committee. The petitioner had also demanded that the selection process be cancelled and a fresh rank list be prepared.

However, the court stated that institutions have the right to fix criteria for appointments to high-level posts like the Director. It also observed that there is no legal requirement to mention the minimum marks in the notification itself. The court said that fixing 60 percent as the cutoff cannot be considered illegal or arbitrary.

The court further noted that the dispute over the marks given to Arun Kumar is not relevant now, as none of the candidates, including him, had reached the required cutoff. It also said that there is no point in questioning his earlier appointment as Assistant Director in 1997 at this stage.

Earlier, a single bench had ordered an inquiry into whether Arun Kumar’s appointment involved political influence, but this was later stayed by a division bench. Considering that there were no major irregularities in the appointment process, the court dismissed the petition.