Ex-minister cheated system to favour his med college: Arunraj
Pushpa.Narayan@timesofindia.com 10.07.2026
Chennai : Health minister K G Arunraj has accused former law minister S Regupathy of engineering a method to evade regulatory checks and get deemed university status for some medical colleges including the one he founded — Karpaga Vinayaga Medical College.
Regupathy denied the allegation. Arunraj’s statement comes against the backdrop of Tamil Nadu standing to lose more than 450 MBBS seats reserved under govt quota and more than 30 seats reserved for govt school students this year because of the change of the status of some medical colleges.
Three other institutions — including one owned by a sitting DMK MLA — have since copied the playbook, “gutting the seat-sharing and social justice principles DMK claims to champion”, Arunraj said.
In June 2023, the management of Karpaga Vinayaga, then affiliated to Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University for medical courses and Anna University for engineering, applied for an nobjection certificate (NOC), a mandatory step before seeking deemed university status.
Neither university responded within the required 60 days. > Trust moved court, P 6
Arunraj: Instead of challenging NOC rejection, Regupathy ensured that trust moved court against education ministry UGC provisions allow such delays to be treated as deemed approval. But under political pressure, the medical university issued the NOC after the deadline — then withdrew it weeks later, for reasons that remain unclear, Arunraj said in an exclusive interview to T OI.
The Karpaga Vinayaga Educational Trust then filed an online application with the UGC, seeking deemed-to be-university status under a “distinct category” for a consortium — Karpaga Vinayaga Educational Lore for Learning — spanning five institutions: engineering, dental, medical, nursing and pharmacy colleges.
The ministry of education, acting on UGC’s advice, rejected the application because Anna University and the Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University had withdrawn their NOCs. “This is where the game began,” Arunraj said.
“Instead of challenging his own govt’s NOC rejection, he ensured the trust moved court against the ministry of education.”
On Apr 22, 2025, the Madras high court set aside the ministry’s rejection, ruling that the NOC withdrawal was “legally ineffective and invalid.” It directed UGC to issue fresh recommendations without reference to the withdrawal and ordered the ministry to decide on merits within four weeks of receiving them. “After this win, he ensured the higher education department didn’t appeal the order,” Arunraj said.
UGC then recommended deemed university status under the distinct category. “Distinct category institutions are meant to offer programs that conventional institutions don’t. UGC must explain how this qualified,” Arunraj said.
On Nov 6, 2025, the ministry issued a Letter of Intent (LoI) to the trust, setting conditions to be met within three years. Less than a month later, on Dec 1, 2025, the trust submitted its compliance report. The ministry forwarded it to UGC, which informed the ministry on Mar 2, 2026, that its Standing Committee had accepted the report and recommended final approval.
On May 20, joint secretary Purnendu Kishore Banerjee, invoking Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, signed orders approving the trust’s deemed-to-be-university status under the distinct category — subject to conditions on fund diversion, non-commercial operation, and alignment with the National Education Policy 2020.
“While the state is weighing legal options, the damage is done,” Arunraj said. He accused Regupathy of violating state rights and principles of social justice, adding that at least three other colleges — including one owned by DMK MLA S Kathiravan — have since followed the same playbook. 1
Regupathy rejected the allegations, saying the trust applied for deemed university status only after receiving the NOC. “They gave us the NOC after the 60-day deadline. It was only after we applied that the NOC was withdrawn,” he said. The management moved the court against Centre’s decision to deny deemed university status to the college, he said. He also denied blocking the state from appealing the high court order.
“Files from medical admissions or university never reached me. The decision to appeal rests with the public prosecutor, and permission is sanctioned by the law secretary. I had no role in it,” he said.
On Thursday, the university said it had failed to respond within 60 days to NOC applications from St Peter’s Medical College, Tagore Medical College, Madha Medical College and Velammal Medical College, along with several dental and allied health sciences institutions. It has since issued an order explaining why it will withhold NOC approval, laying out the facts, reasoning and legal basis for the decision.
SERIOUS CHARGE: TN health minister K G Arunraj (left) & former law minister
