KOCHI: Priya Varghese’s claims that the time period she spent on non-teaching services or contract-basis work should also be taken into consideration while calculating teaching experience proved to be her undoing.
The High Court did not find force in the argument of Priya that the time spent on obtaining a PhD degree under the Faculty Development Programme (FDP), the period of deputation in the post of Director of Student Services, the service rendered on a temporary/ad hoc/contract basis as a lecturer in Malayalam in the Kannur BEd Centre, the coordinator of NSS, and the assistant director at the Kerala Bhasha Institute could be treated as teaching experience.
“Any position to claim teaching experience must be equivalent to that of an assistant professor in a university, college, or accredited research institution/industry,” pointed out the court. Priya claims to have worked as a lecturer on an ad hoc/temporary/contract basis with the university teacher education centre during the period 2001 to 2003, but thereafter there was a long break of nearly nine years before she claims her next teaching experience as an assistant professor at the Sree Vivekananda College, Kunnamkulam.
“I have chosen to say so only because the highest standards of education perhaps may not be able to be achieved when such experiences are also counted. Particularly it is the continuous experience of a teacher that is important over the years since it provides him or her cumulative incremental growth as years go by on a continuous trial-and-error basis.”
As far as the experience claimed by Varghese as an assistant professor in Sree Vivekananda College, Kunnamkulam, and in Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur, is concerned, there is no dispute. The next spell which she claims is when she was on deputation for FDP to pursue her research and it is this spell that is under dispute.
The question is whether he or she obtains any teaching experience during the period. It is a period of active service spent on pursuing a research degree simultaneously with teaching assignments which alone can be construed to be teaching experience. Counsel for Priya conceded that during the time she was pursuing research under FDP, she was not burdened with any teaching assignments and was a full-time research scholar.
In fact, even without any such admission it is evident from the document produced by her, said the court. “When Priya Varghese admits without any reservation that she was a full-time PhD scholar under the FDP without any assignment of teaching being given to her, I fail to understand how she maintains that Regulation 3.11 of the UGC regulation would help her.” Even if that period is counted for a career advancement scheme promotion, it would not offer her the option of including it in her teaching experience.
The UGC submitted that the period spent on FDP can be counted for promotion of every teacher, but cannot be construed as teaching experience. This argument has great force, being the author of the regulation itself, and the court cannot go beyond it. The Supreme Court said that the regulations of UGC will override any other contrary position in a statute or legislation of a state.
Another experience cited by Priya for the appointment was the period she worked as Director of Student Service (DSS) on deputation with the Kannur University. The responsibility of DSS can never be counted as teaching experience, said the court.
Sudhakaran: Verdict a hard blow to govt, CPM
Kannur: The HC verdict has come as a hard blow to the government and CPM for their blatant interventions in the appointments in universities to fill in the vacancies with cronies and relatives of party leaders, said state Congress president K Sudhakaran. Congress party welcomes the verdict, said Sudhakaran. “Everybody knew that Priya Varghese was appointed only because she is the wife of K K Ragesh, private secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
A big blow to CM, says K Surendran
Kochi: The High Court verdict on the selection of Priya Varghese, wife of K K Ragesh, private secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as associate professor at Kannur University, is a big jolt to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, BJP state president K Surendran said on Thursday. “It was Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who included a person, who is the wife of his personal staffer, in the post flouting norms. The High Court verdict is a big blow on chief minister’s face,” he told reporters here on Thursday.