UGC Raises Concerns Over VC Appointments in Tamil Nadu State Universities

UGC Raises Concerns Over VC Appointments in Tamil Nadu State Universities

Last Updated Oct - 05 - 2023, 08:58 PM | Source : The Indian Express | Visitors : 40

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has objected to Tamil Nadu's creation of search and selection committees.

According to sources, the University Grants Commission (UGC) objected in a letter to the chief secretary of Tamil Nadu to the formation of search and selection committees without the commission chairperson's nominee for vice chancellor of state universities.

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The UGC has issued a warning that the appointment of a vice-chancellor in violation of the higher-education regulator's norms shall be "null and void" and can result in legal complications, citing a notification dated September 13 in the Tamil Nadu government gazette to establish a search committee to recommend a panel of three persons for the selection of the vice-chancellor for the University of Madras.

“The UGC has pointed out a Supreme Court judgment from last year, referring to the appointment of the vice-chancellor at Sardar Patel University, Gujarat. The Supreme Court had noted that the appointment of vice-chancellors cannot be made dehors the applicable UGC regulations, even if the State Act concerned prescribes diluted eligibility criteria vis-à-vis the criteria prescribed by UGC regulations,” a source said.

RN Ravi, the governor of Tamil Nadu, and the DMK-led government of the state have been at odds about who should be named vice chancellor.

The governor announced on September 6 the formation of three search-cum-selection committees to designate vice-chancellors to three institutions: the University of Madras, Bharathiar University in Coimbatore, and the Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University in Chennai. This is when the current problem started.

He also introduced a fourth committee member by making a nomination on the chairman of the UGC's behalf.

The governor referred to the state's September 13 announcement of a search and selection committee that excluded the UGC chairman's nomination as an "act of impropriety" and asked that the state withdraw the notification.

The University of Madras has been without a vice-chancellor for four months, and Bharathiar University and Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University have been without a vice-chancellor for nine months.

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