Kerala varsity removes VS's son from PhD course

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala University has decided to cancel the PhD registration of V.A. Arun Kumar, son of veteran CPM former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan, an official said on Tuesday. The university syndicate meeting held here on Tuesday accepted the report of its sub-committee cancelling the PhD registration of Arun Kumar.

The sub-committee, which looked into the registration papers of Kumar following a direction from the Kerala High Court, found that he did not have the mandatory qualifications to apply for a PhD. Speaking to IANS, Varghese Perayil, a member of the syndicate sub-committee, said Kumar did not meet the requirement for a PhD registration.

"Three years back he managed to get the registration, but following media reports that he did not meet the eligibility, the then syndicate cancelled the registration. Kumar approached the high court which asked the present syndicate to re-examine the case," said Perayil.

He added that the mandatory requirements for a Phd registration is the applicant should have either seven years teaching experience or should have cleared the national eligibility test.

"We found out that he has neither of the two and we decided to cancel his PhD registration in Bio-informatics. It was a unanimous decision to cancel his registration," added Perayil.

Meanwhile, sources close to Kumar said he will go in appeal against the decision at the high court.

Kumar works as additional director at the state-owned Institute of Human Resources Development here. The Kerala assembly has also appointed a nine-member committee of legislators to probe whether rules were flouted when, during the tenure of Achuthanandan as chief minister, Kumar was appointed as director of a state-run IT institute early this year.

Kumar is to be asked to appear before the committee to give his version.

In yet another case against Kumar, the Vigilance department has found evidence to link him with controversial and now jailed 'godman' Swami Amritananthachaithanya alias Santosh Madhavan in a land deal.