The State police Crime Branch on Monday formally charged seven former Kerala University officials with corruption and favouritism in the appointment to the post of University Assistants (UA) Grade-II in 2005.
The investigating officer, Dy.SP P. Gopakumaran Nair, filed the charge sheet at the court of Vigilance Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge John. K. Illikadan.
They accused are former vice chancellor M.K. Ramachandran Nair; pro vice chancellor V. Jayaprakash; Syndicate members B.S. Rajeev, A.A. Rasheed, K.A. Andrews, N.V. Russel; and registrar K.A. Hashim.
The men stand accused of conspiracy, cheating, corruption, nepotism, falsification of records, criminal breach of trust by a public servant, forgery, destruction of evidence and violation of the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The alleged offences entail a minimum punishment of seven years of imprisonment.
As many as 45,538 university graduates had taken the examination for 350 vacancies. Around 175 of them got appointed. Scores of candidates moved court questioning the fairness of the selection process.
The Crime Branch’s case is that the accused had “methodically distorted” the selection process and thus dashed the hopes of many eligible candidates for the benefit of a privileged few favoured by them.
The question paper in Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) format was leaked. The answer sheets were sent for valuation to the private press where it was printed with the name of the candidates on them. At least 46 of them were lost. Some candidates were issued two hall tickets.
The attendance sheets at examination centres and the answer sheets were destroyed when candidates legally challenged the selection process.
Total marks were scaled down from 100 to 75 and the score for the interview was upped from 20 to 25 in violation of university statutes and court orders, thereby opening the door for malpractice. The interview board rarely had quorum when it met.
The university had collected Rs.43 lakh as examination fee from the candidates.
