Dalit and human rights organisations are planning to launch an indefinite protest against the alleged irregularities in the appointment of assistant professors in the teaching departments of the University of Calicut.
Functionaries of the Forum for Social Justice claim that T.S. Shyam Kumar could not get appointment in the department of Sanskrit and S. Thara and Suresh Puthanparambil in the department of Malayalam owing to the faulty reservation roster prepared by the university authorities.
The forum was formed by members of the Dalit Samudaya Munnani, Aided Meghala Samvarana Prakshobha Samithi, Enlightened Youth Movement, Black Skin, and Dalit-Adivasi Gaveshaka Koottayma.
The forum leaders claim that if the reservation rotation for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the Kerala State and Service Subordinate Rules are properly implemented, candidates from these communities should have been considered in the order 4, 12, 24, 32, and 52. Ms. Thara should have been in the fourth spot, Mr. Puthanparambil in the 24th spot, and Mr. Kumar in the 32rd spot. But, the forum members allege that they were not appointed because the university followed vertical reservations for people with disabilities instead of horizontal reservations. As per rules, vertical reservation is for backward classes and horizontal reservation for socially disadvantaged groups.
After these candidates complained against the alleged violation of rules, the Kerala State Commission for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, in an order on September 9, directed the university to rearrange the reservation rotation and appoint them in a month. The forum members claim that the university is yet to take any action on the order.
Along with this, K.P. Anupama, an applicant for the post of assistant professor in the department of Journalism and Mass Communication, who was earlier denied appointment, was appointed after the Supreme Court upheld a Kerala High Court order that found fault with the reservation roster prepared by the university.
K. Santhosh Kumar, one of the functionaries of the forum, says that though Ms. Anupama had been given appointment, Mr. Kumar, Ms. Thara and Mr. Puthanparambil, who faced a similar situation, were yet to be considered. Cases filed by them are now pending in the Kerala High Court. The forum is planning to launch an indefinite strike against the university on October 26.
University authorities say that so far only one appointment, that of Ms. Anupama, was found to be faulty and corrective steps were taken. The university will take appropriate steps if there are court directions in similar cases, they add.
