The CPI(M) which came to power in Kerala winning the 2016 Assembly elections had promised the people of the State that the Left Democratic Front of which the party was the leader would form a Government that would care.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had told the people that this would be an administration with a humane face. But at the fag end of its tenure, the Vijayan regime is being projected as the most corrupt government the State has ever seen by former Chief Minister Oommen Chandi, leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and P K Kunhalikutty, leader of the Muslim League.
The appointment of Ninitha Kanicheri, wife of M B Rajesh, former CPI(M) MP, in Sree Sankaracharya Sanskrit University as assistant professor, violating all norms associated with the recruitment process is being seen as the tip of the iceberg. Wife of A Vijayaraghavan, CPI(M) State Secretary, has been appointed as deputy principal of Sree Kerala Varma College at Thrissur in gross violation of all laws in the land.
Appointing close relatives of party MPs, MLAs and other leaders has become the order of the day, a Sree Sankaracharya Sanskrit University professor told The Pioneer on condition of anonymity. “The rank list prepared by the Kerala Public Service Commission for appointment to various universities in the State has been thrown to the winds by the CPI(M). Wife of higher education minister K T Jaleel too figures in the list of relatives who have been appointed as assistant professors in Universities in the State,” said the professor. Details given by the Kerala Government to a query under the right to information (RTI) has disclosed that these appointments are nothing new. Persons without qualifications specified by the University have been appointed as associate professors ignoring qualified candidates.
Sunil P Elayidom, an employee working with a party publication was appointed as assistant professor though he did not possess the minimum qualifications as mandated by the University.
The interview board members, all CPI(M) activists, gave first rank to Elayidom superseding 211 qualified candidates. “I had the unfortunate experience of approaching the Sree Sankaracharya Sanskrit University to pursue a Ph D programme in Ayurveda. The response from the authorities was painful. It has degenerated into an employment agency to recruit CPI(M) members and its fellow travellers,” said Dr Rajeeve, Ayurvedic physician in Ernakulam district.
The Sanskrit university may be the only institution of its kind to appoint persons with no knowledge in Sanskrit as its vice-chancellors. “Though R Ramachandran Nair, former chief secretary of Kerala and a Sanskrit scholar himself, took all the pains to get this University established as an institution for research studies in Sanskrit, what is happening in the University is not at all Sanskritised,” said Dr Rajeeve.
R Ananthanarayanan, honorary secretary, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, said he too had a disappointing experience from the Sanskrit University.
“We had sent special invitations to the University inviting them for the National Sanskrit Seminar on Vedas, Vedangas and Darshanas held at Puthucode in Kerala in February 2020. They did not even acknowledge the invitation letters which is strange because it is the one and only institution of its kind in Kerala,” said Ananthanarayanan.
He was of the view that the Union Government or the University Grants Commission should order a thorough probe into the functioning of the University and the credentials of the academic staff should be subjected to an audit.
Sree Sankaracharya Sanskrit University needs to be Sanskritised, said both Dr Rajeeve and Ananthanarayanan.
