Chennai, Aug 11 Expelled AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister, O. Panneerselvam (OPS), called upon the Tamil Nadu government to “consult with the Governor” and fill the posts of Vice-Chancellors (V-Cs) in state-run universities, in the interest of students.
The posts of V-Cs of four state-run universities -- University of Madras, Bharathiar University, Madurai Kamaraj University and Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University -- remained vacant for several months now while the Vice Chancellor of Anna University, R. Velraj, completed his tenure on Saturday.
In a statement on Sunday, Panneerselvam referred to a case pending before the Supreme Court of India over the inclusion of a representative of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in the Search Committee to pick V-Cs and urged the government for speedy completion of the court proceedings.
He charged that ever since the DMK government assumed office in Tamil Nadu in May 2021, the state-run universities faced a severe financial crunch and could not appoint teachers or pay them salaries and could not conduct examinations on time.
Panneerselvam pointed out that as there was an issue over including a representative of the University Grants Commission in the Search Committee, a panel headed by the Secretary of the Higher Education Department was heading the administration of these universities without V-Cs.
The former Chief Minister said that if this situation continues, a scenario would arise when there would be no V-Cs for many of the universities.
He called upon the state government to understand the significance and importance of a Vice Chancellor for a University and stated that the Tamil Nadu government had the responsibility and duty to appoint V-Cs for these institutions.
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