Chennai: At the beginning of December last, the Tamil Nadu government passed a GO (Government Order), directing the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University at Tirunelveli, to take punitive action for the faculty recruitment scam when Professor K Baskar was the Vice-Chancellor of the varsity during 2016 to 2019. Well, the GO itself is yet to be uploaded on the government portal. The university, too, is yet to initiate any action and neither is Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy inclined to take action in spite of being in office for two years.
Apart from the former VC, Baskar, the GO has explicitly directed that action be taken against seven others, including the then Registrar and others of the University Selection Committee, who have fraudulently appointed a Professor and an Associate Professor, despite their lacking the required qualification as prescribed by the University Grants Commission (UGC). While Baskar, the prime accused, is continuing as a professor at the prestigious Anna University while the other accused have either retired or are continuing in the varsity.
“It is only these two faculty illegal appointments that have come to the public domain while others have not. This is the tip of the iceberg. Sad, that this has come after an investigation by the Vigilance Directorate, and that it is yet getting stonewalled by the varsity administration is disheartening,” said a senior faculty member, who doesn't want to be named, adding, “Every other appointment in the university is to be scrutinised. At various times faculty have been appointed by greasing the palm of the then VCs and particularly during Baskar's tenure more than 20 appointments have been made, resulting in litigations,” it was alleged.
Things have not changed for the better even after the DMK came to power in 2021, with the avowed aim of clearing the mess in the Higher Education sector. The present Higher Education Department Secretary D Karthikeyan, IAS (who faced allegations of corruption when he was Chennai Corporation Commissioner) has not ensured that the GO was uploaded on the government portal. ETV Bharat is in possession of a copy of the GO. The Manonmaniam Sundaranar University was established in 1990 by the then DMK government headed by the patriarch M Karunanidhi to honour the eminent Tamil scholar Sundaram Pillai, who authored the acclaimed verse drama 'Manonmaniam'. Even the present-day Thamil Thai Vazhthu (Tami Anthem) was penned by him.
“The Governor, who is Chancellor of varsities, is happy if students are sent to his programmes. He is interested in the implementation of the New Education Policy of the Centre and not in the democratic functioning of the varsities. It is two years since the DMK assumed power and RN Ravi became the occupant of the Raj Bhavan. Little has changed,” bemoaned an academic at Trichy Bharathidasan University.
While K. Baskar is the first accused in the MS University issue, the others are Dr A John De Britto, former Registrar, Dr R Balasubramanian, Professor and Head, and Dr RS Rajesh of the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Prof Maruthakutti, former HoD of Sociology Department, and Professor Dr N Kannan (retd). The charge against them is that they have, under the instruction of then VC K Baskar, as members of the scrutiny committee, approved the appointment of Dr V Balamurugan for the Computer Science & Engineering Department and that of Dr R Murugesan, Associate Professor of Sociology Department. The latter is a close relative of the then Lok Sabha MP of Tenkasi, Vasanthi Murugesan of the AIADMK. The investigation has found that both did not have the requisite teaching experience and that their appointment was clearly in violation of the mandatory UGC guidelines.
Responding to ETV Bharat, the present Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr N Chandrasekar, who was a Syndicate Member during the tenure of Dr K Baskar, had a convenient excuse saying “Some individuals have approached the court and the matter is sub-judice.” Academicians expect that the culprits be brought to book and the Higher Education Minister should wake up to the reality.
