THRISSUR: Agriculture Minister K V Thomas’s private secretary Dr B Ashok will be appointed the Vice-Chancellor of Kerala University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences this week.
According to sources, the Cabinet has sanctioned the proposal to appoint Ashok to the post and the decision is awaiting the final nod of Governor R S Gavai.
Ashok told Express that he was informed of the developments from the Cabinet. However, an official information had not been received. At the same time, Ashok would visit Kerala Agricultural University to officially interact with the deans and department heads on December 10, the KAU Vice-Chancellor, Registrar and other officials on December 11.
Ashok, a Kerala-cadre IAS officer of the 1998 batch, had earlier worked as Sub-Collector in Kollam, as project director of Jalanidhi, director of Animal Husbandry Department and as district collector of Pathanamthitta. He had also worked as Deputy Director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.
Ashok is a postgraduate from Kerala Agricultural University. He also has a postgraduate degree in international politics from Italy. He was awarded a research fellowship from Maastricht University, in Netherlands, and has also been trained at the Tata Management School, London University, as well as Duke University, USA, in management. His collected writings are being published under the title ‘Lazy@Mussoorie’.