High Court quashes appointment of teachers at Kerala University: Future of appointments made by six universities remain uncertain

KOCHI: With the Kerala High Court nullifying the appointment of 58 teachers at the Kerala University by pointing out that the reservation method for the appointment was illegal, the future of faculty appointments made similarly by the other five universities in the state has also become uncertain.

The appointments made by Kannur, MG, Calicut, Kalady, and NUALS universities as per the notification from 2014 are in crisis. As per the Reservation Amendment Act passed by the Assembly in 2014, the number of these appointments made in compliance with the principle of reservation is being collected. There is a strong opinion that the government and universities should immediately appeal against the High Court single bench verdict questioning the very existence of this law.

The Centre had passed the University Amendment Act in Parliament to override the Supreme Court order that there should be no reservation in single teaching posts. Subsequently, the UDF government passed an amendment law in 2014 as per the UGC definition, and the rules of appointment were changed by the universities. The appointments were made after considering all vacancies in various education departments as a single unit.

The five universities have been recruiting teachers since 2014 under the new rules. The Kerala University started recruiting teachers as per the new rules since 2017. Kerala University's notification was for 105 teacher vacancies. Following this, 58 persons were appointed on the principle of reservation. The rest of the appointment was put on hold in the wake of the COVID crisis. This was when the court intervened.