HC: Shame that AU suspended courses due to fund crunch

HC: Shame that AU suspended courses due to fund crunch

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:04.02.2021

It is shame on part of Anna University to suspend MTech (biotechnology) and MTech (computational biology) courses citing want of funds, observed the Madras high court on Wednesday.

“The courses may be sponsored by the Centre. If they are taking a stand to follow the reservation policy of the Centre in admission then the university should proceed further with the funds available with it,” Justice B Pugalendhi said.

The courses sponsored by the central government were suspended as the Centre insisted on 49.5% communal reservation in admissions, and not 69% reservation followed in Tamil Nadu. In case of lack of funds, the state government can also consider stepping in, the judge added.

Recording the submission of counsel for the AICTE that the courses are in existence for over two decades and that only 49.5% reservation was being followed all along, the court wondered as to why the university had grievance this year alone. The court then adjourned the hearing to February 8 for counsel for Tamil Nadu government to get instructions.

The issue pertains to a plea moved by R Chitra, a student of the university, challenging the decision to suspend the courses for the current academic year. When the plea came up for hearing, advocate Vijaya Kumar, representing the university, submitted that till last year the entire admission to the courses were made by the central government through the department of biotechnology.

“But this year, they have sent a merit list and asked us (university) to do the selection and the admission. Therefore, we wrote to the state government to clarify as to the reservation to be followed. The state instructed the university to follow 69% reservation but the AICTE insisted following 49.5% reservation. So, we decided to suspend the courses till the issue is settled,” Vijaya Kumar said.

Representing the Tamil Nadu government, special government pleader E Manoharan sought time to get instructions from the state. “We do not want to stop any good courses”, he said.

According to the petitioner, the central government’s insistence that the university follow only 49.5% reservation and not the state’s 69% quota policy in admission is arbitrary.