Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit today said strict action would be taken in the episode involving a woman college lecturer, who allegedly lured girl students to provide sexual favours to varsity higher officials and asserted that the guilty would be punished.
"The matter is very serious..it should not have happened and the guilty has to be punished," he said.
In this connection a one man committee, led by retired bureaucrat R Santhanam had been appointed, he told reporters here at a press conference, his first since assuming office last October.
In an obvious reference to opposition parties like DMK questioning his action to appoint the one man panel, Purohit quoted legal provisions and said that as chancellor of the varsity, he was empowered to constitute the committee.
The Governor said that "without consulting him," the Madurai Kamaraj varsity had initially constituted an internal committee and it was later revoked in view of the one man panel being named by him.
The Raj Bhavan, in a separate press release citing legal provisions and Supreme Court orders in various cases, said "the state government cannot advise the chancellor to act in a particular manner."
"How can Governor appoint the enquiry officer by taking up the powers of the vice-chancellor?," he asked
Petitioner G S Mani,a lawyer, submitted that if the probe has to take place properly, it should be transferred to the central agency as there was every chance of the evidence being tampered with
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