Even as the State government is going through a severe financial crisis and finding it difficult to garner resources for its day-to-day affairs, the State has been dragging its feet after issuing an order to take action against illegal promotions made at Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) and recover excess emoluments drawn by the candidates with effect from the date of promotion.
Interestingly, the order was issued on September 11 by then Agriculture Production Commissioner and Principal Secretary (Agriculture) B. Ashok, who now holds the post of the University Vice- Chancellor. Despite being legally bound to implement the order issued by him and knowing the issue inside out, he is yet to implement the order, arguably due to the pressure from service organisations. As per the government order, illegal promotions are to be cancelled along with the recovery of excess perks drawn by the faculty within three months after the issuance of the order.
In case the university fails to comply with the order after three months, the enhanced pay disbursed to ineligible candidates should be deducted from the non-plan assistance until full compliance is confirmed, according to the order. Now, with hardly two weeks left for the deadline, the university is facing the prospect of non-plan assistance to it being reduced. Notably, the KAU recently mortgaged its prime land to avail of a ₹40-crore loan to meet its daily expenses.
