CH Vidyasagar Rao finds VC candidates unfit for Anna University

CHENNAI: The ignominy of universities remaining headless for long and vice-chancellor positions being auctioned to the highest bidder will now be confined to dark memories of a corrupt past as Governor CH. Vidyasagar Rao has cracked the whip to clean up the system and herald a bold initiative aimed at restoring to Tamil Nadu its prime spot in higher education in the country.

In a rare and bold move, the Governor rejected all the three candidates shortlisted by the ‘search committee’ for the post of vice chancellor of Anna University and constituted a fresh committee to spot the most eligible person to captain the world-renowned institution that controls 13 engineering universities and several hundreds of colleges with over seven lakh students on their rolls.

Former Chief Justice of India, Justice R.M.Lodha will be the Governor’s nominee and convenor of the new search committee for Anna VC. In making this announcement, the Governor has ensured that the next VC would be a person of impeccable credentials and not someone who got the job due to ‘extraneous’ reasons.

“The Governor interviewed the three candidates recommended by the Anna University search committee and found them all to be unsuitable. He was very unhappy”, said a Raj Bhavan source, adding, “He is now very determined to set the house in order”. The first step was to tell the Chief Minister he should prorogue the Assembly, a requirement for promulgating any ordinance. Next came his ordinance for amending the State Universities Act to expedite the process of appointing the VCs for 12 universities in TN.

“The Governor was shocked finding that the Madurai Kamaraj University, besides Anna and Madras Universities, have been headless for about two years. This new ordinance ensures that the search committees submit their panel of names within three months. More importantly, these committees will be headed by either a retired SC judge or a retired high court chief justice”, the source added. Announcing the decisions that emanated from the Raj Bhavan, higher education minister K. P. Anbalagan said Prof P. Duraisamy has been appointed as VC of the University of Madras while Prof P P Chelladurai would be the new VC of the Madurai Kamaraj University. Referring to the Anna varsity fiasco, the minister said, “The Governor said the qualifications of the shortlisted candidates were not up to the mark. The VC must be capable of running the university of over 7 lakh students”.

He said the ordinance now promulgated would expedite the process of appointing VCs for the 13 state universities. “Anna University will have its new VC within four months,” he said. Anna University's syndicate member Professor L.Karunamoorthy and Mr Ebenezer Jayakumar, the retired professor from Government College of Technology, Coimbatore and Professor S.Mohan from IIT Madras were shortlisted for the post of Vice-Chancellor of Anna University by the search committee. They were interviewed by the Governor Vidyasagar Rao on Friday along with the VC candidates for the Madras and Madurai-Kamaraj universities.

Explaining the amendments, Mr Anbalagan said, “As per the new rules, the search panel will include three to five members.  A retired judge or a retired V-C will be the Governor's nominee and a retired principal secretary or an educationist will be the government's nominee to the panel. The syndicate and senate of the universities can nominate one renowned educationist to the search committee.” The new rules mandate the appointing a search committee 6 months prior to the end of V-C's tenure. Within four months the committee should submit names of shortlisted candidates for the V-C post.

“If the committee is unable to give the names, the Governor can either give time or dissolve the committee,” Mr Anbalagan said. As far as Madras University is concerned the government needs the President's approval to amend the act. “The higher education department will take separate steps to get the nod to change the act,” he added. Prof Duraisamy who has been appointed as VC of the Madras University is the author of works in the area of econometrics and labour market. He was formerly Professor and Head, Department of Econometrics, University of Madras. He also held the positions in the University as Registrar i/c., Member-Syndicate of the Madras University.

Recently, he was appointed as a member of the Pay Commission of University Grants Commission for University and College teachers' salary revision. Prof Chellathurai, the new VC of Madurai Kamaraj varsity, is an expert in the field of youth empowerment. He also served as registrar of Manonmaniam Sundaranar varsity in Tirunelveli and Periyar University in Salem. He was also the chairperson, School of Youth Empowerment in MKU and Prof and HoD of Youth Welfare Studies. He is having 35 years of teaching and research experience.