‘Governor taking law into his own hands’

‘Governor taking law into his own hands’

Govi. Chezhiaan

The Hindu Bureau

CHENNAI 20.12.2024

The State government has followed the rules in constituting search committees to appoint eligible candidates as Vice-Chancellors (V-Cs) to State universities, Higher Education Minister Govi. Chezhiaan said in a statement on Thursday.

In response to a direction issued by Governor R.N. Ravi on Wednesday that the V-C search committee of Annamalai University should have a nominee of the University Grants Commission (UGC), the Minister alleged that the Governor was using his position as the Chancellor to suspend the legal proceedings, carried out as per the statutes of State universities.

Mr. Chezhiaan said the government was watching the Governor’s tendency to use his position as the Chancellor of State universities to take law into his own hands. The Governor had the authority only to recommend that the search committee be announced, but he cannot constitute a search committee on his own, he pointed out.

Mr. Ravi was functioning as a representative of the UGC, violating the statutes of the universities. In a six-page response, the Minister said that six of the 13 State-run universities were currently functioning without a V-C. As the tenure of the V-C of Bharathidasan University and Periyar University would end in February and May next year, search committees had been constituted for them as well, as per the university statutes, he added.

He further pointed out that though the UGC could make recommendations, the State government had the authority to take a decision on accepting them.

Rift unwarranted: PMK

PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss, in a statement on Thursday, urged the Tamil Nadu government to take immediate steps to expedite the proceedings of cases pending in the Supreme Court, which pertain to the appointment of V-Cs to State-run universities.

He said that the rift between the State and Governor R.N. Ravi was unwarranted when the V-C posts in six State-run universities had been lying vacant for several months.