After Kerala HC clears appointment of CM Secy’s wife, all eyes are on Guv

Thiruvananthapuram, June 26

After the Kerala High Court upheld the appointment of Priya Varghese -- the wife of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's secretary K.K. Ragesh -- as an Associate Professor in Kannur University, all eyes are on Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan's next move.

When the controversy over Varghese's qualifications surfaced, Khan by virtue of being the Chancellor, had stayed the appointment.

Soon came the petition of second-ranked candidate Jacob Skariah before the High Court regarding the same.

Last November, a single-bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran ruled that Varghese lacked qualifications as prescribed by the UGC and that her appointment needs to be re-scrutinised.

But with the division bench last week setting aside the verdict and clearing her appointment, one more hurdle before the Kannur University is the stay of the Chancellor.

As per sources, the Kannur University has now sought legal advice on how to untie the stay of the Chancellor and if they can go forward by giving her appointment letter.

The CPI(M) leadership has criticised those who opposed the appointment.

All eyes are now on Skariah as he is determined to move the Supreme Court to stay the division bench's verdict.

Ragesh, a former Rajya Sabha member of the CPI(M), hails from Kannur and considered a close aide of Vijayan.

Incidentally, last year things surfaced when an RTI query revealed that Varghese got the maximum marks (32 out of 50) in the personal interview, while Skariah scored 30, but her research score was a mere 156, while the second-ranked candidate secured 651. However, she was ranked first based on the personal interview.