Thiruvananthapuram: The syndicate members of University of Kerala on Wednesday locked up vice-chancellor of P.K. Radhakrishnan in the hall during the syndicate meeting to sabotage the decision to enforce the UGC norm that the committee to make appointments in the university consisted only of expert members and no syndicate members, it is learnt. The allegation of anomalies in the appointments was a camouflage and the members wanted to derail the appointment process in 105 posts, 57 of which in the reservation category, as no syndicate member would be in the committee, sources in the university said.
The syndicate members raised a controversy over the appointment of Divya C. Senan in the education department by twisting facts, the sources said. A seven-member committee, including governor's nominee, department head and five members from outside the state, selected Dr Senan, a member of the selection committee said on condition of anonymity. “All the seven members gave Dr Senan 19 marks in the interview and they were of the view that she should in fact be be given 20 marks. However, the vice-chancellor had insisted that only 18 marks could be given. Later, it was decided to award 19 marks.”
The members in the committee were P. Prema of Alagappa University, Dr Surekha of Gulbarga University, M.S. Thalwar, E.R. Ekboudhe Boude, education dean P.J. Jacob and education department head A. Tharessa Susan. Two committee also selected two other candidates — M. Sameer Babu in Muslim reservation quota and V. Cynthia in open merit. Dr Senan is the second person from the state who got a Fulbright scholarship in education after former vice-chancellor A. Sukumaran Nair.
She had passed BSc (physics) from Kerala University, MSc in non-conventional energy from MG University and B.Ed with first rank and M.Ed with second rank from MGU. “I don’t know what is happening,” Dr Senan told Deccan Chronicle. “My posting was done about 10 months ago and it created no controversy then. They were questioning my academic credentials. I was preparing to go to Cambridge University when the controversy erupted. As many as 130 persons had attended the interview. I was not given 24 marks for research in the selection process because I did not have a PhD when the notification was issued in 2011. I got my PhD only in 2012.”
