KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday admitted the petition filed by Principal incharge and Joint-Director of the Institute of Human Resource Development (IHRD) V A Arun Kumar challenging the order which upheld the decision of Kerala University to cancel his PhD registration. Arun Kumar’s petition was dismissed by Justice S Siri Jagan on July 2. He registered for PhD to conduct research in bio-informatics.
Arun Kumar is Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan’s son.
The court dismissed his petition on the ground that the application for registration was submitted without acquiring the requisite teaching experience. Arun Kumar had submitted before the court that he had seven years’ teaching experience, which was mandatory for registration. As per university norms, a candidate applying for admission to PhD course should either clear the entrance test or pass the National Eligibility Test.
Exemption will be granted only for those having an MPhil degree or seven years of teaching experience.
Registration for research was granted as Arun Kumar produced a certificate issued by the IHRD Director certifying that he had teaching experience. In further clarification, the IHRD Director communicated to the university that Arun Kumar did not have seven years of teaching experience.