Thiruvananthapuram: Justice R. Rajendra Babu, who was appointed the chairman of fee regulatory and admission supervisory committee, has said that every issue which comes before it would get equal priority. "It's not right to prioritise one issue over the other,” Justice Babu who is to take over as the new chairman of the committee from Justice J. M. James told Deccan Chronicle. "The goal would be to ensure transparency in fee and admission process." The tenure of Mr Babu would be for three years. The commission would supervise the admissions to both management and merit quota seats in self-financing professional colleges and determine the fee structure based on the details of infrastructure and cost submitted by the managements.
The appointment of Mr Babu was being made at a time when CPM State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan making it clear that the LDF government would bring in a comprehensive legislation to rein in self-financing professional colleges and that it would have provisions on appointment of teachers and other staff in self-financing colleges, their salary and mechanism for students' admission. Justice Babu who was a high court judge from 199 to 2004 had earlier been the commission to inquire into the custodial deaths and excesses which had taken place in 2006. On the basis of the report, the LDF government in 2007 decided to re-investigate four custodial deaths of 2006.
Mr Babu was also the commission for determining the creamy layers twice. The state government had raised the creamy layer income limit for determining reservation for the backward communities from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 4.5 lakh a year in 2008 based on his recommendation. It was raised from Rs 4.50 lakh to Rs 6 lakh again in 2014 based on his recommendation. During the tenure of G. Karthikeyan as speaker, Mr Babu was appointed the chairman of the commission to fix salaries of legislators.
He had recommended a substantial increase in their salaries and allowances. He also functioned as the Commission of Enquiry in the famous Forensic Laboratory Blast Incident. A native of Mayyanad in Kollam, he was born on March 3, 1942. He obtained a degree in law in 1964 from the Law College, Thiruvananthapuram. He started to practice with the late Sasthamangalam Go-vinda Pillai, a noted criminal lawyer in Thiruvananthapuram. He was selected as Munsiff in 1974. Later on, he was promoted as Sub-Judge and District Judge. He also worked as the legislature secretary.
