THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the wake of the High Court quashing a 2017 notification for appointment of teachers in the University of Kerala and thereby plunging into uncertainty the future of 58 faculty members, university teachers have urged the state government and the varsity to immediately go in for appeal against the single judge order. The notification for appointment was issued after the state legislature amended the Kerala University Act in 2014 to ensure reservation in teaching posts.
The amendment prescribed category-wise pooling of the posts of professor, associate professor and assistant professor and applying communal rotation by treating all departments as one unit. The reservation norms, laid down as in Kerala State & Subordinate Services Rules, were to be applied to these posts. “Since similar amendments were also carried out to the Acts governing other state universities, the High Court single judge order will create farreaching consequences,” Kerala University Teachers Association general secretary A K Ampotti said. The association also pointed out that the Kerala University’s notification was also is in accordance with UGC regulations.
The Association demanded the government and the university take appeal against the verdict that has created a crisis at a time when efforts are being made to address the acute shortage of teachers. The High Court had held that clubbing the posts of professors, assistant professors and associate professors of all the departments as one unit was bound to create 100% reservation of such posts. However, a section of the academics pointed out that it was not possible to quash the notification as long as the amendments to university acts, carried out by the state legislature, are in force.