Governor asks VC to drop unqualified persons from Kannur University Board of Studies

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Governor, Arif Mohammad Khan, has asked Kannur University Vice Chancellor, Gopinath Ravindran, to submit a revised list for the appointment to the various Board of Studies, after dropping those who are not qualified. He also said to rectify the appointment in which experts in subjects were avoided and those in various other fields posted to the boards.

The High Court division bench had canceled the appointments of 72 persons to different Boards of Studies by the University on its own without the knowledge of the Governor. Following the court’s order, the governor canceled the Board of Studies. It was found that 68 persons without any basic qualifications were appointed to the boards.

A minister’s personal staff member and employees of the party’s newspaper were found posted on some boards. They were appointed over many qualified senior professors. Even after the High Court’s order, the VC asked the Governor to nominate these very persons. The Governor sent back this list and told the VC to suggest those who are qualified.

There has been no board of studies in the University for the last year. The responsibilities of the boards include preparing course syllabi and texts and to agree on the panel, which prepares the question papers. The government, instead of appointing experienced teachers to the Board of Studies, has appointed teachers of aided colleges and contract teachers without the requisite UGC qualification.

The University used its non-existent rules to appoint these unqualified persons because it knew that the Governor would not agree to the appointments once he goes through their bio-data.