THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has reappointed Gopinath Ravindran as the Vice-Chancellor of Kannur University for a fresh term of four years. Gopinath becomes the first Vice-Chancellor (VC) in the state to be reappointed to the post.
The CPM-led LDF government’s keen interest in reappointing Gopinath reportedly tilted the scales in favour of the Left-leaning academic. A three-member search committee, constituted to select a new VC for Kannur University, had already started the process of shortlisting the candidates. The search committee was disbanded after the governor accepted the government’s recommendation to reappoint Gopinath.
Incidentally, the reappointment came amid a raging controversy over the selection to the post of Associate Professor in the Malayalam department of Kannur University. The selection process was marred by allegations of favouritism as Priya Varghese, wife of chief minister’s private secretary K K Ragesh, was also included as a candidate despite allegations that she did not have the UGC-prescribed teaching experience for the post and she came first in the interview. Save University Campaign Committee (SUCC), a collective of whistleblowers in the higher education sector, has termed Gopinath’s reappointment as a ‘gift’ from the government.
“The VC showed undue haste in issuing the notification for the post. Within a day of receiving the application, a screening committee was constituted and the interview was conducted within four days. The interest that the VC showed in the selection of Priya Varghese to the post was finally rewarded,” said R S Sasikumar, chairman of SUCC.
Governor seeks explanation
The governor has sought details from the VC after the recruitment to the post of Associate Professor in Kannur University turned controversial. SUCC had alleged favouritism in shortlisting the wife of the CM’s private secretary as a candidate.