Chennai: Governor RN Ravi on Wednesday threw down another gauntlet to the state government by dismissing the search committee set up by the state higher education department to find another vice-chancellor for Chidambaram’s Annamalai University and announcing his own committee for the purpose.
A search committee notified by the higher education department through a government order on December 9 has ‘intentionally’ excluded the nomination of the UGC chairman in violation of the Supreme Court order, a press release from the Raj Bhavan said.
“Honorable Governor Chidambaram, Chancellor of Annamalai University, has constituted a search committee to identify candidates for the appointment of Vice Chancellor of the University,” the press release said and Ravi directed the state government. To inform the search committee he formed.
The search committee constituted by the Governor consisted of the Syndicate of the University, the Syndicate of the University and the nominees of the UGC Chairman as per the prevailing rules of the Annamalai University Act and the UGC, 2018.
The UGC rules were made mandatory by the Supreme Court and the above four members were nominated by the Chancellor as coordinators in the search committee constituted by the Governor, it said.
It is stated in the statement that since the search committee formed without following the provisions of UGC regulations should cancel the start, the governor should withdraw the notice issued by the government in this regard and inform the committee formed.
Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has already Prof. Dr. Rajshree MS and others (Civil Appeal Nos. 7634-7635 of 2022, SLP (c) Nos. 21108-21109 of 2021) which was constituted against the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor on the recommendation of the Search Committee. “The provisions of the UGC Regulations will be repealed with effect,” the Raj Bhavan said.
The dispute between the governor and the state government over the appointment of vice-chancellors for state universities, which has left four other universities headless, and a wide range of other issues is as old as Ravi’s assumption of office in September 2021.
Some time ago, after the reshuffle of the state cabinet and the replacement of K Ponmudi with Kovi Chejian as the higher education minister, many stakeholders in the education department expressed hope that the relationship between the government and the Raj Bhavan would improve, but that has not changed. Ravi digging in his feet to include the nominees of the UGC chairman in the search committees.