Priya Varghese's appointment: HC misinterpreted UGC norm, observes SC

New Delhi: The Supreme Court observed on Monday that the Kerala High Court misinterpreted the UGC norm while upholding the appointment of Dr Priya Varghese as associate professor of the Malayalam department at Kannur University.

An apex court bench comprising Justices JK Maheshwari and KV Viswanathan in July 2023 had a similar observation. The court then pointed out that the High Court ruling was wrong to a certain extent as the period spent by her pursuing her PhD to be counted was counted under her teaching experience. The court also cited  Regulation 3.11 of the 2018 UGC regulations.

The present observation is of the bench comprising JK Maheshwari and Sanjay Karol and the remark was made by the latter. The court now said that the High Court misinterpreted the UGC norm. According to Justice Karol, the High Court misinterpreted  Regulation 3.11 of the 2018 UGC regulations while upholding the appointment. 

According to Regulation 3.11 of the 2018 UGC regulations, “the time taken by candidates to acquire M.Phil. and / or Ph.D. Degree shall not be considered as teaching/ research experience to be claimed for appointment to the teaching positions. Further the period of active service spent on pursuing Research Degree simultaneously with teaching assignment without taking any kind of leave, shall be counted as teaching experience for the purpose of direct recruitment/ promotion. Regular faculty members upto twenty per cent of the total faculty strength (excluding faculty on medical / maternity leave) shall be allowed by their respective institutions to take study leave for pursuing Ph.D. degree.”  

The counsel for Priya maintained that they have a response over the matter. Meanwhile, the court has given two weeks for UGC to file its affidavit in the plea challenging the HC verdict.