A seemingly one-sided decision by the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) to honorarily award Shaji K.V., the NABARD chairman with a doctorate has sparked controversy as some quarters are questioning grounds for such an action.
On May 29, at College of Agriculture in Vellayani, KAU Vice Chancellor B. Ashok announced that the honorary degree of Doctor of Science (DSc) would be awarded.
R.S. Sasikumar Save University Campaign Committee (SUCC) Chairman wrote Arif Mohammed Khan, Governor of the state and also the university chancellor seeking his intervention to stop KAU from giving Mr. Shaji this award.
In this letter he mentioned that Mr. Shaji who spent his banking career had never contributed to agricultural sciences or development of agricultural practices.
“Given to pioneers”
“This is just a simple fact; there is nothing at all that commends him for being awarded an Honorary DSc by KAU which generally goes to pioneers like M.S. Swaminathan and Amul’s Varghese Kurian. This makes it highly suspect, therefore, for Mr. Shaji to receive an honorary DSc from KAU,” stated Mr. Sasikumar and questioned if there were any ulterior motives in making that decision when even suspicion was raised about the same.
Accordingly, he said it is very similar to alleged attempts made by some Syndicate Members of Calicut University regarding offering honorary DLitts to two community leaders.
‘Remove V-C’
Moreover, according to him Dr.Ashok should be removed as vice-chancellor since he did not have qualifications referred in judgments pronounced by Supreme Court, Kerala High Court and UGC Regulations 2018.
Meanwhile on Saturday during a special meeting held by KAU general council some sections were strongly opposed against the move whereby certain members also abstained raising questions about transparency in decision making process.
One member accused those who made this decision of disregarding KAU statutes and procedures in conferring the honorary doctorate which would mean that they were undermining general council’s integrity.
