CUSAT Professor appointment; Wife of MG PVC given high marks

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Dr Usha, the wife of MG University PVC Dr CT Aravindakumar, who attended the interview for the post of professor at CUSAT with a work experience certificate issued by her husband, got 19 out of 20 marks in the interview. The interview committee chaired by CUSAT VC gave the first rank to Usha, a guest lecturer at MG University, by overlooking other candidates with years of service and excellent academic qualifications. According to UGC regulations, a guest lectureship is not a teaching experience.

Usha was given 19 marks out of 20 when there is a PSC condition to give a maximum of 14 marks out of 20. Other varsities follow the PSC condition. Usha got a total score of 88 with 10 marks out of 20 for academic qualification, 40 out of 40 for research publication, 15 out of 15 for domain knowledge, 4 out of 5 for teaching skills and 19 for interview. Meanwhile, Dr Sivanandan Achari, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, CUSAT, with 21 years of service, got 16 marks for the interview. Sony C George, who is more academically qualified, got just five marks.

Usha was awarded full marks in the research publication category after evaluating all the research papers she published in collaboration with PVC Aravindakumar. This came to light when the mark list of the interview was released under the Right to Information Act. Aravindakumar, who is also the director of the Department of Environmental Science at MG University, provided work experience for his wife by temporarily appointing her to projects in his department.