Chennai: In a fresh bout of confrontation with the DMK government, Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi is engaged in a duel over the modality of selecting the Vice-Chancellor (VC) for the prestigious Madras University.
Smarting under the ruling DMK trying to clip his wings as the Chancellor of the government-run varsities, the governor has asked the government to withdraw the notification pertaining to the VC search panel, overriding the one he had constituted.
In the ongoing turf war in the academic domain, the Governor claims primacy while the state government is unwilling to yield its supremacy. The Bills passed by the State Assembly removing the Governor as Chancellor of state-run universities are still pending for the assent of the Raj Bhavan.
A Raj Bhavan communique, issued late on Tuesday, termed as 'an act of impropriety' the government notification on constituting a search committee, negating the one set up by the Governor. While the panel set up by the Governor had a UGC nominee, the one constituted by the Government and notified in the gazette had excluded him.
Even before the Government could notify the search panel, the Governor, without the concurrence of the government, had published the committee set up by him on the Raj Bhavan website on September 6, 2023, and released the same to the media. Understandably, it had invited the wrath of the Stalin government. In retaliation, the government through the Secretary of Higher Education Department, issued the notification, overriding the Raj Bhavan, on September 13, 2023.
“The notification published on 13.09.2023 is void ab initio, being contrary to UGC regulations and the order of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The said publication in the Government Gazette is without any such authority from the Chancellor, being the head of the University and the Principal Secretary to Government, Higher Education Department has no role in the affairs of the University and hence the Chancellor has called upon to withdraw the said notification published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Extraordinary,” the Raj Bhavan release read.
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The Governor has nominated the former VC of the Central University of Bihar, HS Rathore, as the UGC nominee. The state government's contention is that the Governor has no power to act unilaterally and as per the Madras University statute, no such authority is vested with him.
Academicians like former UGC vice-chairman Professor H Devaraj and former Anna University vice-chancellor Professor E Balaguruswamy have made it clear that the Governor cannot act unilaterally in constituting a search panel as the University statute is very clear on this. However, they have urged both the Raj Bhavan and the Government to act together in the interests of the student community.
The Governor had also constituted similar search panels for Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore, and Tamil Nadu Teacher Education University, Chennai. This is the first time a Governor had unilaterally constituted a search panel with the inclusion of a UGC nominee claiming that it was based on an apex court ruling.
But the usual practice as per the statutes of the respective universities is to have a three-member panel with a nominee of the concerned varsity's syndicate and that of the governor besides that of the government. The committee will submit three names from which the Chancellor-Governor would appoint one as the VC. With varsities remaining headless, academicians are worried that the confrontation between the governor and the government will have an adverse fallout on students.
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