HC orders issue of notice to TN Govt on appointment of VCs

The Madras High Court today ordered issue of notice to Tamil Nadu Government on a PIL seeking for a direction to immediately bring out specific norms for the appointment of Vice Chancellors of state universities.
The division bench comprising Justice R Mahadevan and Justice M Govindaraj posted the case for further hearing after summer vacation of the court.
In his PIL, A, Narayanan, Director of Change India, an NGO, stated that there was inordinate delay in the appointment of vice chancellors in universities.
The concerned authorities of the Government continued to overlook the pre-eminence of the important office of the vice chancellors and their role in guiding and mentoring the university towards excellence in learning.

The public universities in the state were steadily losing their pre-eminence on account of several alleged scams linked to corruption and nepotism by former vice chancellors, the petitioner submitted.
There was no full-time vice chancellor, Registrar and Controller of Examination to Madurai Kamaraj University and some other universities, he contended.

In Tamil Nadu Fisheries University, a search committee to recommend the name of the new vice chancellor was constituted only on August 11, 2016, after a delay of five months.
Even now there was no progress in the functioning of the committee, he submitted.
He submitted that the vacancies in the top most position in the universities were hampering its effective functioning.

Administrative matters, affiliation, research projects, recognition to new courses, financial allocation and other crucial issues were pending in several state run universities for want of leadership and direction, he submitted.