Appointment of industry nominee raises eyebrows

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a surprise and hasty move, the State Government on Friday appointed Sunny Joseph Alappatt, owner of a textile and jewellery chain, as the industry representative of Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT).The appointment raises many an eyebrow as several important seats, including that of VC and PVC in Calicut University, have been lying vacant. Top sources in the Education Department told Express that only one name, not a panel, was submitted to the Governor. On Friday, Governor cleared the name of Sunny Joseph, a close confident of CPM PB member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, as Syndicate member. Congress sources said that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had succumbed to the pressure of Muslim League and approved the nomination of Sunny Joseph.It is learnt that the nomination itself had violated existing norms as the Education Minister, who is the ProChancellor, had made the nomination in this case. Usually, nominations of Syndicate members are put forth by the ViceChancellors concerned.The vacancy of industry representative was the only slot remaining vacant in the 14member Syndicate of CUSAT. The previous government kept the vacancy open as no eligible candidate could be identified.