A division bench of Kerala High Court on Thursday set aside a single-bench order and cleared the path for the appointment of the wife of an official in the chief minister’s office as a university associate professor, a selection that the governor had cited to accuse the state’s Left government of nepotism.

The bench of Justices A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and Mohammed Nias quashed the November 2022 order of Justice Devan Ramachandran that said Priya Varghese lacked the mandatory eight-year teaching experience to be considered for the post.

Petitioner Joseph Skariah, who had ranked second to Varghese in the selection process and therefore lost out, had alleged foul play in her selection.

The Opposition and the media had played up the controversy since Varghese is the wife of K.K. Ragesh, private secretary to the chief minister.

Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who has been at loggerheads with the Left Democratic Front government, repeatedly referred to Varghese’s selection as an instance of nepotism.

While applying to Kannur University for the associate professor’s post, Varghese had cited her experience of teaching at various institutions, including two spells at Kannur University where she had spent 22 months as director of student services. She also mentioned her time as a PhD scholar at the same university.

Justice Ramachandran had ruled that the 30-month period during which Varghese underwent a faculty development programme while doing her PhD at Kannur University did not count as teaching experience relevant to qualification for the associate professor’s post. Nor did the period of her deputation as director of student services, he ruled.

But Justices Jayasankaran and Nias ruled that the time Varghese had spent obtaining her PhD or working for the student services scheme should not be excluded from the calculation of her teaching experience.

Varghese cited the verdict as proof that “the wall of justice to lean on when in times of tribulations is intact”. She accused the media of haranguing her throughout the period of the controversy. “The media hunt started on the eve of the interview date for this position.... It was as if I was being discouraged from even attending the interview.”