THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) will send the details of the selection procedure for appointment to lecturer posts at its colleges to the ombudsman for Travancore and Cochin Devaswom Boards.
‘’Details of the entire selection process will be sent to the ombudsman in two days,’’ said TDB president Rajagopalan Nair.
The selection list for lecturer posts published here on January 20 had generated a controversy after board member K V Padmanabhan came out publicly that the list was published without his knowledge. Following Padmanabhan’s allegations of corruption in the selection process, the government had ordered an inquiry by Additional Chief Secretary K Jayakumar.
"When I cited certain anomalies in the list, including insufficient representation for SC/ST candidates, the board president and K Sicily, the other member, assured me to publish the list after examining my request. But they published the list on the same day evening without my knowledge. I am yet to get a copy of the published list,’’ Padmanabhan had said.
Padmanabhan had alleged that the Board president and the other member have squeezed in candidates acting under political pressure.
"The interview board was chaired by Devaswom Commissioner N Vasu, who was the private secretary of former Excise Minister in the LDF Government. Since he had also held a party position, his credibility is under a cloud,’’ Padmanabhan said.
Meanwhile, Rajagopalan Nair termed the allegations of Padmanabhan as baseless. "The interview board was constituted as per university statutes. Any inquiry into the issue is welcome,’’ he said.
RSP state secretary V P Ramakrishna Pillai had also demanded a probe into the issue the other day. Pillai’s outburst on Sicily, a nominee of his party, came as a surprise to many when the LDF is showing a cool response to the issue.