The Kerala High Court will pronounce its verdict on November 17 on a writ petition challenging the Kannur University’s decision to appoint Priya Varghese, wife of K.K. Ragesh, private secretary to the Chief Minister, as Associate Professor of Malayalam in the university.
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Justice Devan Ramachandran reserved the verdict on Wednesday after the completion of the arguments by the counsels for Ms. Varghese, the University Grants Commission, and the petitioner. The petition was filed by Joseph Skariah, Assistant Professor of Malayalam at St. Berchmans College, Changanassery. He contended that though Ms. Varghese did not have the requisite teaching experience, she was called for an interview and the selection committee had given her first rank.
The counsel for Ms. Varghese submitted that the petitioner’s contention that the time spent by her under the Faculty Development Programme for acquiring a PhD degree cannot be counted as teaching/research experience under the UGC Regulations, 2018, was incorrect. The counsel said that the deputation period for completing her research and the deputation period in the post of Director of Student Services, Kannur University, were eligible to be counted for determining the minimum qualification.
UGC stance
The counsel for the UGC submitted that the study leave taken by Priya Varghese for completing her PhD could not be treated as a teaching or research experience. The leave thus taken by the candidate could only be counted as service for the purpose of retirement benefits. The required teaching experience for the post of Associate Professor was eight years which did not include the leave period taken for study purposes. As per the UGC regulations, the period taken for PhD could be counted as teaching experience, only if the research was pursued simultaneously with teaching assignments.