Ms Huws is the appointee to the �31,000 two-day-a-week post

Another politician on the selection panel has claimed Labour Party member Meri Huws had not been scored as the best candidate.

Plaid Cymru's Owen John Thomas has said he will be making a formal complaint.

However, the Assembly Government has defended Ms Huws' appointment.

Culture Minister Alun Pugh and Owen John Thomas both sat on the four-person panel which awarded the post - worth �31,000 a year for a two-day week - to Ms Huws.

She replaces outgoing chair Rhodri Williams on the quango, which was set up to promote and enable the use of the Welsh language.

This is deeply unfair, both to the successful and unsuccessful candidates, and will do nothing to encourage the best candidates to apply for public posts in the future Assembly government statement

Mr Thomas said the panel which interviewed Ms Huws and other candidates had a scoring system based on their answers.

He claimed that when the scores were added up, Ms Huws had seven-and-a-half points less than another candidate.

Mr Thomas denied that he was opposed to Ms Huws' appointment because she was a member of the Labour Party.

"There are principles," Mr Thomas said.

"The main principle is one of merit - that the person appointed is the one of highest merit."

Ms Huws, who is originally from Carmarthen, is currently Head of Lifelong Learning, at the University of Wales in Bangor.

Mr Pugh brushed aside criticism as "political mischief making that always happens during the eisteddfod week".

Mr Pugh said the criticism was 'political mischief'

He said: " It's eisteddfod week and there's lots of political mischief going on. I've got nothing to add to the report of the independent person who looks at policies on behalf of the Public Appointments Unit which concluded that the appointment was a proper one.

"The process is under the scope of the Public Appointments Unit, an independent assessor confirmed that the process was in line with Welsh Assembly Government standards."

The Welsh Assembly Government has defended her appointment, saying that an independent assessor was satisfied that the interview procedure had been correctly followed.

A spokesperson said it was a "matter of regret" that Mr Thomas had discussed the merits of individual candidates.

She said: "The assembly government has introduced the most rigorous standards in relation to fairness and openness within the public appointments system in Wales, and Owen John Thomas was invited to be a member of the interview panel in accordance with these principles.

"This is deeply unfair, both to the successful and unsuccessful candidates, and will do nothing to encourage the best candidates to apply for public posts in the future."

Independent inquiry call

A spokesperson for the Welsh Language Board said there will be no comment from the organisation or from Meri Huws over Owen John Thomas' comments.

She said: "It's not up to the Welsh Language Board to make a comment. It's up to the assembly."

But Mr Thomas, culture spokesman for Plaid Cymru, said he will now approach the Commissioner for Public Appointments over the decision to give Ms Huws the job.

Conservative spokeswoman for Culture and the Welsh Language, Lisa Francis AM, has written to Mr Pugh asking him to provide evidence that the proper procedures for public appointments were adhered to.

And the Liberal Democrat's assembly leader Mike German has said that the appointment should be the subject of an independent inquiry.