Lokayukta scraps Assistant Grade II appointments

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Lokayukta on Thursday struck down all the Assistant Grade II appointments in the Kerala University, made on the basis of a written test conducted on July 3, 2005.Upa Lokayukta Justice G Sasidharan said that legal action should be taken against former Kerala University Vice-Chancellor M K Ramachandran Nair, former Pro Vice-Chancellor V Jayaprakash, former university syndicate members B S Rajiv, A A Rasheed, K A Andrews and N V Russel as all of them “are guilty of favouritism and nepotism in the selection of candidates.”All the syndicate members are CPM nominees.In a keenly awaited verdict, the Lokayukta also ordered a retest for the same applicants who had appeared earlier.Lokayukta’s ruling was passed on the complaint filed by Sujith S Kurup, a former senate member, after the appointment of 181 out of  200 notified posts for assistants plunged into a controversy as around 50 persons on the list were closely linked to CPM leaders.The case with a whopping 252 respondents had Ramachachandran Nair  as the first accused, Jayaprakash as third, Rajiv, the current CPM Peroorkkada area committee secretary as 10th, Rasheed, CPM Palayam area committee secretary as 11th, Andrews as 12th and Russel as 13th respondent.The Lokayukta observed that most  of the allegations in the complaint have been substantiated. According to the Lokayukta, “The entire selection was vitiated by illegality since the selection board was not constituted before inviting applications and conducting written test”.   It adds that “manipulation was done by the respondents one, three and 10 to 13 in the marks of the written examination and concealed or destroyed Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) sheets”.The Lokayukta also observed that proper interview was not conducted by the selection board “with the intention of helping candidates of their choice”.The Lokayukta also recommended Higher Education Department Secretary to direct the university Vice-Chancellor to constitute a new selection board for conducting a fresh entrance examination for all the candidates who had applied earlier.