THRISSUR: The announcement of the appointment of R Bindu, former Thrissur mayor and wife of CPM state secretary A Vijayaraghavan, as the vice-principal of Sree Kerala Varma College has kicked up a controversy. The order, issued on October 30 by the Cochin Devaswom Board which manages the college, bestows certain key responsibilities of the current principal on Bindu. She took charge as the vice-principal on November 12.
It is learnt that A P Jayadevan, principal of the college, resigned in protest on Tuesday. Jayadevan has expressed his displeasure over the appointment and accused the management of not informing him about the decision.
It is alleged that coordinating academic and accreditation-related activities of the college is one of the main functions of the principal that has been handed over to the vice-principal as per the order issued by the board. The development activities carried out under the PTA and development forum are also included in the list of duties.
However, Bindu denied the allegations saying that there has been no violation of rules in her appointment.
“There are no monetary benefits for the role. A vice-principal can be appointed in a college that has more than 1,000 students to ease the workload of the principal. The duties given to me were decided by the governing body of the college. I am also eligible for the role, being the senior-most professor of the college after the principal. This controversy has come up because I am the wife of Vijayaraghavan,” Bindu said. She cited the appointment of vice-principals at Christ College, St Joseph’s College (Irinjalakuda), Vimala College and Panampilly Government Memorial College to support her claim.
A miffed Jayadevan, however, said the board’s order is illegal. “The functions being given to Bindu by the board include financial dealings. As per the government guidelines, the key functions of the principal cannot be handed over to the vice-principal. The college management does not have the power to create new posts and it has also not yet informed the government or the university about the new arrangement,” Jayadevan said.He further said that the vice-principal can only be appointed on the recommendation of the principal as per the 2018 UGC guidelines.“The duties of the vice-principal are not mentioned in the university statutes either,” he said.