The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Selection of lecturers: no curbs on role of government nominee

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Tuesday, Aug 17, 2010
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Selection of lecturers: no curbs on role of government nominee

Special Correspondent

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday held that the government could not restrict the participation of its nominee to the selection process of lecturers in a few vacancies in colleges while deputing the nominee to the selection committee.

Justice C.T. Ravikumar made the ruling while disposing of a writ petition filed by the manager-cum-secretary of MSM College, Kayamkulam.

The court declared that the nominee deputed by the government was bound to take part in the entire selection process for filling all the posts sanctioned to the college.

The court made it clear that the participation of the government nominee in respect of the selection initiated would not stand in the way of government raising objections to appointments at the appropriate stage.

The petitioner said the University of Kerala had sanctioned and approved as many as 35 posts in various departments of the college in view of the workload and staff pattern. The selection was to be conducted by a selection committee.

As per the statutes, a nominee should be deputed by the government to the selection committee.

Though the committee had been constituted and a person nominated, the government attached a rider restricting the participation of the nominee to selection for one lecturer each in the subject of Arabic and Physics only.

The court observed that the petitioner was not under any obligation to get prior permission from the government in the matter of filling posts sanctioned by the University.

The court pointed out that the government could not impose a restriction on its nominee as there was no provision that enabled the government to impose such a restriction. The nominee had to take part in the entire selection process for filling all the vacancies sanctioned by the university.

Retirement age

A Division Bench comprising Justice C.N. Ramachandran Nair and Justice P.S. Gopinathan set aside a single judge's verdict declaring that the retirement age of the employees of Kerala State Warehousing Corporation would be 58, instead of the present 55.

The Bench, however, directed the State government to reconsider the request of the Managing Director of the corporation to amend the respective rules to enable the corporation to enhance the retirement age to 58 and pass appropriate orders in two months.

The board had resolved to raise the retirement age in 2006. It had also requested the government to make appropriate amendments to the rules relating to the service conditions of the corporation employees.

The single judge's verdict came on a petition filed by a group of employees.

Provisional approval

Justice S. Siri Jagan on Monday directed the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to grant provisional approval to eight new self-financing engineering colleges in the State.

The order came on a writ petition filed by the managements of the eight engineering colleges. According to them, the AICTE had published the names of their colleges on its website. The AICTE had not earlier granted them approval as it noticed certain deficiencies in the construction of the infrastructural facilities for the colleges. According to the managements, the deficiencies had been rectified.

The court said the names of the colleges were posted on the website of the AICTE. If that be so, before issuing the order refusing approval, the managements should have been put on notice. The impugned order did not state what the deficiencies which had not been rectified were, the court noted. It was under these circumstances that the court passed the interim order.

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