KOCHI: The High Court division bench upheld the government's move to set additional qualifications for the appointment of assistant professors in KUFOS.The petition was filed by Usha V Parameswaran and ten others requesting that the amendment brought in the 2021 University Act by setting additional qualifications for appointment should be repealed. The verdict was delivered by a division bench comprising Justice Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice C.P. Muhammad Niaz.

According to the UGC Act 2018, candidates must have a postgraduate degree with a minimum cumulative GPA of 55% in the relevant subject from an accredited Indian university or a foreign university. But the government has amended the Universities Act to make courses approved by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) a recognized qualification for recruitment, even if they have a four-year degree or post-graduate degree in fisheries science.

The petitioners opposed this on the ground that the government had no power to amend the University Act contrary to the UGC Act. Earlier, the single bench had rejected the petition filed by the petitioners on this issue. An appeal was then filed in the division bench. The Division Bench held that the additional qualification introduced by the Government through the amendment did not in any way weaken the minimum qualification under the UGC Act. The Central Act has not been violated by the Government. The division bench also pointed out that the qualification was raised to improve the quality of the course. The appeal was then dismissed.