Syndicate approves appointment of KK Ragesh's wife Priya Varghese

KANNUR: The Syndicate of the Kannur University has approved the appointment of Dr Priya Varghese as Associate Professor in the Malayalam department of the university. Priya Varghese is the wife of KK Ragesh, the private secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Earlier, a controversy had erupted over the qualifications of Priya Varghese after the University decided to appoint her as Associate Professor in the Malayalam Department.

The appointment was controversial after RTI documents revealed that Priya Varghese was not eligible to apply for the post of associate professor. The details of Priya's qualifications were contained in the RTI reply received by senate member Dr RK Biju from the university.

As per UGC rules, the required qualifications for the appointment to the post of Associate Professor are PhD and eight years teaching experience. The Save University Campaign Committee pointed out that Priya had only one month teaching experience.