The Senate of the University of Calicut on Monday approved an amendment proposal that will pave the way for rotation of the post of heads of departments for a two-year term in affiliated aided colleges.
Sources said that 14. A, a newstatute,has been introduced after theStatute14 of the Chapter 2 (Conditions of Service of Teachers in Private Colleges) of the Calicut University FirstStatutes, 1979, in tune with theStatute18 of the Chapter 3 of the Calicut University FirstStatutes, 1977.
There were some differences of opinion between the Senate members over who has the powers to nominate the heads of departments. The initial amendment proposals were to give that right to “the college council led by the principal” or an “educational agency”. Senate members affiliated to the Kerala Private College Teachers Association argued that managements should be given the powers as they were the appointing authorities. P. Rasheed Ahammed, another member, favoured an order issued by the United Democratic Front government in 2014 that said the post should automatically go to the senior most Professor or Associate Professor. After discussions, the Senate decided to give the powers to the college council headed by the principal as the decision is purely academic and does not involve any additional financial commitments.
TheStatute18 (Head of a Department) in the Chapter 3 (Teachers of the University) of the Calicut University FirstStatutes, 1977, has a sentence “… The Syndicate shall nominate the senior most Professor as the Head of the Department for a period of two years and at the end of two years, the next senior most Professor shall be nominated…”
The amendment is to change it as “…The College Council shall nominate the senior most professor as the Head of the Department for a period of two years or retirement of the incumbent, whichever is earlier, and after expiry of the term, the next senior most Professor shall be nominated…” In departments which have no Professor or Associate Professor, the senior most Assistant Professor (in-charge) shall be nominated to the post.
This would now be forwarded to the Syndicate. It was a representation by K.V. Arun, Senate member, and Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur, which led to the amendment. Mr. Arun had earlier raised this issue with the Syndicate and the Academic Council as well and got a favourable order from the Kerala High Court.
Mr. Arun had pointed out that the post of Head of the Department is an important administrative one in a college or university. Affiliated private colleges, however, still follow a system based on seniority as there is nostatutoryprovision, he said.
