At a time when the topic of citizenship remains a political hot potato, the University of Kerala has landed in the soup over a contentious question intended for migrants from Pakistan (in the post-partition era) in its application forms for appointments to teaching posts.
The callous attitude of the university authorities has invited the wrath of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government that has been on the forefront of the resistance against the Centre’s efforts to implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens.
Inquiry ordered
The university waded into the controversy after an applicant flagged the presence of the question [“Are you a person migrated from Pakistan?” (sic)] in the application form issued by the institution.
On being alerted by Alathur MLA K.D. Prasannan, Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel ordered an immediate inquiry into the lapse.
It subsequently came to light that the 83-year-old university, one of the earliest universities in the country, has inadvertently been replicating questions in its application forms since the post-Partition period when several families had migrated from Pakistan to settle in various parts of India.
As part of the inquiry, the university rummaged through its archives to find hard copies of several application forms as old as those issued since 1984. Curiously, barring the fonts and the alignment, the forms have not undergone much change and many questions remain the same. Having admitted its oversight, the university has promised that its forms will be reviewed with immediate effect.