Appointment of college principals: Tribunal rejects Kerala government’s plea

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Administrative Tribunal has dismissed the state government’s plea for scrapping the 43-member-list prepared for appointment of college principals. The list was prepared following UGC guidelines. In the interim order issued by the Tribunal, the bench comprising Justice Asha and Dr. Pradeep Kumar, has instructed the government to facilitate temporary appointment of those mentioned in the PSC approved list within two weeks.    

However, the Tribunal has approved a new selection procedure abiding to UGC guidelines for appointment of college principals. A UGC representative expressed the commission’s displeasure over the Kerala government’s bid to scrap the ‘appointment’ list approved by it. 

It should be noted that, in the month of June, the court had instructed the state government to finish the appointments at the earliest. However, the government delayed the procedure owing to its desire to create an entirely new ‘list’.

Earlier, seven professors included in the ‘current’ list had approached the Tribunal citing the state government’s laxity in initiating appointments. To make things worse, the state education minister is accused of using her influence for ‘distorting’ the selection list. The professors had filed a ‘defiance of court’ petition against the state government in the issue. 

Candidates who did not feature in the list had also approached the Tribunal putting forth their demand for a revamped list. It should be noted that following the intervention of minister R Bindu, the principal appointment list approved by the selection committee and the department promotion committee was turned into a draft list delaying the appointment of the 43 eligible candidates in the list.