KASARGOD: A month after the Central University of Kerala refused to extend the tenure of the dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences citing ‘irregularities’ in his double promotion from assistant professor to chair professor in a span of one year, new evidence suggests at least two more ‘ineligible’ persons are holding positions such as registrar in-charge and dean.
According to complaints sent to Vice-Chancellor G Gopakumar, and facts independently verified by ‘Express’, the university’s joint registrar, who is acting as the registrar in-charge, S Gopinath, does not meet the UGC standards to hold the post.
According to the latest UGC regulation, a deputy registrar should have a master’s degree with at least 55 per cent marks if the official is making a direct entry. However, three high-level and reliable sources in the university confirmed to ‘Express’ that Gopinath has less than 53 per cent marks in his post-graduation.Gopinath first came to CUK as an officer on special duty (OSD) in 2009.
In 2011, he returned to his parent organisation, Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, only to return as deputy registrar when the job was notified in 2011.According to two of the above sources, the university adopted an ordinance, giving a relaxation of 5 per cent marks at the PG level to ‘accommodate’ him as deputy registrar. “The relaxation is a blatant violation of the UGC Regulation 2010,” said an expert in university administration.The university, in the notification dated January 15, 2015, had again incorporated the same ‘5 per cent relaxation’ clause for candidates ‘who are already in the university system’ while calling for the post of registrar.
The notification has been undersigned by Gopinath, as registrar in-charge, and he has said that he is ‘qualified’ to be a candidate for the post.Gopakumar said on Wednesday that the anomaly had been rectified through corrigenda in newspapers. However, the university’s website does not reflect that at the time of going to press.In the same notification, the registrar in-charge has mentioned the last date to receive the applications as March 1, which is a Sunday.When contacted, Gopinath admitted that he did not have the requisite 55 per cent marks in PG, but said there was no illegality in his posting.
