ix judicial officers have received the go ahead from the Kerala High Court Administrative Committee to depose before the Syndicate sub-committee of the Mahatma Gandhi University probing the copying case involving T. J. Jose, Inspector General of Police.
The judicial officers were among the 57 candidates who wrote the LL.M Constitutional Law examination along with Mr. Jose at St. Paul’s College, Kalamassery, on May 4.
They were seated close to Mr. Jose at the exam hall. Mr. Jose was allegedly caught cheating in the exam after the invigilators found him carrying incriminating materials. The Home Department had asked him to go on leave after the incident.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Hindu has now reliably learnt that the administrative committee, headed by Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and comprising High Court Judges Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan, K.T. Sankaran, Antony Dominic, and T. R. Ramachandran Nair, gave its nod after the varsity panel chief made a plea to spare the judicial officers that include munsiffs, sub-judge, and a district judge.
Special leave has been sanctioned for the officers to depose before the panel at its sitting scheduled here on August 4.
ADVERTISEMENT
Request for duty leave
The judicial officers had earlier requested the High Court authorities to provide duty leave to attend the sitting. But the request was placed before the administrative committee on the inference that the sub-committee was not a judicial body and one constituted by the university. Such powers lie with the administrative committee.
A final decision on de-barring Mr. Jose will be likely taken on the basis of the report to be submitted by a seven-member Syndicate panel headed by Prof. C. H. Abdul Latif.
“We will submit the final report by August 10. We had already collected the statements given by 13 other candidates,” he said.
The university rules prescribe de-barring the candidate found guilty of copying for a period ranging between one to six years. It will depend on the gravity of the offence.