Deccan Chronicle:Sunday, January 22, 2012.
The Central University of Kerala at Kasargod, which is mired in allegations of wrongdoing in its faculty appointments, disregarded a Right to Information (RTI) application by Alathur MP P.K. Biju and curtly told him that “RTI is not about seeking answers and asking questions. It is more about inspection of documents or records or taking notes, extracts or certified copies of the documents/records.” In the reply furnished on Dec. 12 by the university, 10 questions met with the above answer and the MP had to satisfy himself with the same for several questions in subsequent RTI queries too. The MP is now planning to take up the issue with the Lok Sabha Privileges Committee. Interestingly, the RTI queries were answered nearly three and a half months after the queries were submitted, it is learnt. Despite the delay, answers like “the information sought for is not held by the PIO,” were given. There are also replies like “the information sought for is so voluminous that it would definitely cause a lot of pressure on the available fiscal and human resources of the university.” According to candidates, adjunct faculties in Animal Sciences and Genomics Sciences departments, Mr Oommen V. Oommen and Prof. Ramesh respectively, had sat through their faculty selection process. However, their names were missing from the list provided by the university in reply to the RTI application, which points to serious foul play in the selection process of the university that was set up by an Act of Parliament. It has also been alleged that candidates close to the adjunct faculties were reportedly appointed in the respective departments.
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