Anna University's convocation row goes to Madras HC, faculty threatens boycott

By Express News Service  |   Published: 11th May 2017 05:27 AM  |  

CHENNAI: THE controversy surrounding the May 19 Anna University convocation got deeper on Wednesday after a faculty body filed a writ plea in the Madras High Court seeking its cancellation. A section of the teachers also threatened to boycott the event if a regular Vice-Chancellor is not appointed by then.

The writ petition urged the court to declare as illegal, a resolution dated March 3 of the Syndicate of Anna University, proposing to hold the convocation despite the absence of a regular Vice-Chancellor.

A vacation bench of justices K Kalyanasundaram and S M Subramaniam, before which a PIL from Anna University Teachers’ Association (AUTA), by its president I Arul Aram, came up on Wednesday, ordered notice to the authorities concerned returnable by May 17.

The petitioner contended that the resolution was illegal and without jurisdiction and against the scheme of the Anna University Act.

Under the scheme of the Act, it is the Vice-Chancellor (V-C) who has got to perform his functions. Or the Higher Education Secretary can be requested to perform those functions during the tenure of V-C.

But, it does not mean that even after the V-C’s term expired and a Search Committee has been constituted to select a new V-C, the secretary can perform the functions of the V-C. Before the expiry of the tenure of the V-C, a new one should have been appointed, who alone can confer the degrees on the students, the petitioner contended.

In a related development, a section of the Anna University faculty said they would abstain from the Tamil Nadu Common Engineering Admission (TNEA 2017) conducted by the university if career advancement scheme (CAS) was not implemented.

According to AUTA secretary S Chandramohan, the faculty members have not received the routine promotion in the form of CAS for the last seven years. Normally, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) issues gazette notification for CAS, which is then be placed before the Syndicate and promotions under CAS are implemented.
The association said instead of the Syndicate approving the gazette notification issued by the AICTE in 2012, it was sent to the higher education department to issue a government order.

“They made changes to the notification before sending it to the higher education department for approval, though it is illegal to tinker with a gazette notification,” charged Chandramohan.

No convocation without V-C: AUTA
AUTA said the Syndicate’s decision to conduct the convocation in the absence of a Vice-Chancellor was untenable, and added that the faculty members have decided to boycott if the convocation was conducted without the V-C

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