KASARAGOD: The High Court of Kerala put the ball in the court of the Central University of Kerala (CUK) to decide on a writ petition challenging the appointment of deputy registrar V S Pradeep Kumar over age relaxation.
The single-bench judge Devan Ramachandran did not take a call on the age concession given to him but said "it requires a re-look and it should be done after hearing both sides".
Pradeep Kumar's appointment was challenged by Priyadarshini V of Coimbatore. Though his counsel Rajeesh K G argued that the scrutiny committee found her ineligible, the court ignored it. To be sure, Priyadarshini was third on the rank list put out by the university after the interview.
The court took up the petition because the notification for the job set an age limit of 50 years but Pradeep Kumar was 52 years while applying for the post.
Pradeep Kumar's counsel Rajeesh said he claimed the age concession of five years given to central government employees. The university granted it "upon the impression that the relaxation applies to central university also".
Pradeep Kumar was working as a senior grade manager with the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) of the Ministry of Tourism when he joined CUK as the deputy registrar in December 2020.
But the judge said, "even a cursory look" through these orders would show that these relaxations were offered by the Union government to posts in their establishments and departments. "It is rather doubtful whether the university can be construed to be a Central government department..."
Since the university is the creation of a statute, it is considered an autonomous institution and so "the court cannot accept the argument that the relaxations would automatically apply to its posts without further enquiry".
Yet, judge Ramachandran said he would not go into the issue in detail and asked the competent authority of the university to take a decision within one month after hearing both sides.
The court said the deputy registrar would continue to be in office till further orders.