Tamil Nadu governor asks govt to pull back notification to constitute a search committee to appoint VC

The governor had issued a notification on September 6 notifying the constitution of a search-cum-selection committee to select a candidate to be appointed as the vice-chancellor of the university

Updated on: Sep 27, 2023, 09:22:11 IST

By Divya Chandrababu, Chennai

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A new standoff between the Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)-led state government took place on Tuesday night over the constitution of a search committee to appoint the vice- chancellor of the University of Madras, people familiar with the matter said.

The governor, who is also the chancellor of the University of Madras, has asked the Higher Education Secretary, D Karthikeyan, to withdraw a notification issued by the state to constitute a search panel, as a notification for the same was earlier issued by the governor.

The governor had issued a notification on September 6 notifying the constitution of a search-cum-selection committee to select a candidate to be appointed as the vice-chancellor of the university. The governor’s office said the notification was published on the Raj Bhavan’s website and a press release was issued.

“By an act of impropriety, the Principal Secretary of the state’s Higher Education Department, has issued a further notification on September 13 of a search-cum-selection committee by excluding the nominee of the UGC chairman,” the Raj Bhavan said on Tuesday. The development, the governor’s office said, does not adhere to the order of the Supreme Court of India and is contrary to the UGC regulations.

“The said publication in the government gazette is without any such authority from the chancellor, being the head of the University and that the Principal Secretary to Government, Higher Education Department, has no role in the affairs of the University and hence the chancellor has called upon to withdraw the said notification published in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette Extraordinary,” the Raj Bhavan said.

Earlier this month, higher education minister K Ponmudy had said that according to the state’s laws, the governor doesn’t not have rights to constitute a search committee. “Till now, the search panel members have been appointed as per the university acts and the same would be notified in the gazette after the government order. But, the governor has formed the search committees unilaterally and released the notification, which is against the university acts,” the minister had said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Divya Chandrababu
Divya Chandrababu is an award-winning political and human rights journalist based in Chennai, India. Divya is presently Assistant Editor of the Hindustan Times where she covers Tamil Nadu & Puducherry. She started her career as a broadcast journalist at NDTV-Hindu where she anchored and wrote prime time news bulletins. Later, she covered politics, development, mental health, child and disability rights for The Times of India. Divya has been a journalism fellow for several programs including the Asia Journalism Fellowship at Singapore and the KAS Media Asia- The Caravan for narrative journalism. Divya has a master's in politics and international studies from the University of Warwick, UK. As an independent journalist Divya has written for Indian and foreign publications on domestic and international affairs.Read More

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