The Kerala Administrative Tribunal (KAT) on Thursday directed the State government to appoint Principals to posts lying vacant in arts and science colleges from the selection list of 43 candidates prepared by the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) within two weeks.
The Higher Education department had sought to treat the selections as a “draft list” in light of complaints it received against the process.
A tribunal Bench comprising judicial member P.V. Asha and administrative member Pradeep Kumar also ordered fresh notification to be issued for the remaining posts.
The case was taken up for hearing after the government submitted a petition seeking to modify an earlier order issued by the KAT directing the former to execute the appointments of the 43 selectees. While the petition sought orders to conduct fresh selection to the posts by effectively nullifying the selections made earlier, it failed to find favour with the tribunal.
The KAT Bench ruled that the applications of all qualified persons, including those who were then deemed ineligible by the DPC, should be considered for the fresh selection process. It also maintained that the interim stay on government orders that allegedly diluted the appointment norms laid down by University Grants Commission (UGC) will remain in effect while selecting candidates afresh.
While Higher Education Minister R. Bindu had claimed to have received complaints against the DPC list from various quarters, the tribunal observed that the government file relating to the appointment process did not make mention of any such grievance.
In its submission, the government found fault with the selection process. It flagged the decision of the selection committee to delegate the process to a subcommittee which “disqualified eligible persons” who were initially selected by the former.
“The subcommittee has no such power and accordingly the selection is vitiated. In fact, the selection committee constituted by the government as per the UGC norms did not conduct the selection and the matter was further delegated to the subcommittee for which the selection committee has no authority. (sic),” the government submitted.
