Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 12 (IANS): Angry Congress students and youth activists alleging favouritism and violation of all norms, launched a protest on Monday over the appointment of Poornima Mohan in the Malayalam Lexicon department at the Kerala University.

She is the wife of R. Mohanan, who is Officer on Special Duty at the office of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

On Monday morning, the protesters broke into her room and shouted slogans.

A helpless Poornima said she has done no wrong and she had applied for the deputation post after seeing the notification.

"I was called for the interview and I got the job. I have done no wrong," said Poornima amidst shouting of slogans.

The issue surfaced after the 'Save University Campaign Committee' complained to Governor Arif Mohammed Khan that she was a Sanskrit teacher with the Kalady Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, who was appointed the editor of the Malayalam Lexicon, which was in total violation of qualification guidelines.

The complaint is -- how come a Sanskrit teacher can be appointed after ignoring qualified Malayalam professors of the university, which they say is against the statute of the University, as only persons proficient in the language are eligible.

But the Kerala University, however, has pointed out that the appointment was made by a selection committee of experts.

Those who sat in this chair in the past includes scholars in Malayalam like Sooranad Kunjan Pillai, B.C. Balakrishnan and P. Somasekaran Nair.

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