Tamil Nadu Govt Drops UGC Nominee Name From VC Search Panel – News18

The Tamil Nadu government has reportedly taken the step of formally establishing a three-member search committee. The committee will be responsible for suggesting three candidates to the governor for the position of Vice-Chancellor (VC) at the University of Madras.

This move comes in the wake of the recent vacancy in the V-C position, which occurred last month. Notably, this government notification signifies a departure from the Governor, RN Ravi’s, earlier notifications.

On September 6, Governor Ravi reportedly issued notifications that formed four-member VC search-cum-selection committees for the University of Madras, Bharathiar University, and Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Education University.

This action has resulted in a contentious dispute between the State government and the Governor himself. The State government strongly asserted that Governor Ravi’s actions were unilateral and in violation of the statutes governing these universities. It also says that the governor lacked the authority to issue such notifications, as reported by The Hindu.

The Tamil Nadu government’s official notification, published on September 13, 2023, for the University of Madras, reportedly introduced Battu Satyanarayana, who currently serves as the V-C of the Central University of Karnataka, as the Governor/Chancellor’s nominee and also as the convener of the committee.

The two additional members of the committee were K Deenabandu, a member of the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission, acting as the Syndicate’s nominee, and P Jagadeesan, former V-C of Bharathidasan University, serving as the Senate’s nominee.

While these three individuals held the same positions in the governor’s notification, the state government’s notification reportedly omitted the fourth member, who was designated as the nominee of the University Grants Commission Chairman, as present in the governor’s notification.

According to the report, the exclusion of the UGC Chairman’s nominee became a contentious issue between the Governor and the State government because the governor said that such inclusion was mandatory according to the UGC’s regulations, while the State government seemed to hold the view that it was not necessary.

Earlier, a similar sequence of events had occurred previously too. The media outlet reveals that it happened in 2022 when the Tamil Nadu government issued notifications to form three-member search committees for Bharathiar University and Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Education University. The Governor’s counter-notification, establishing four-member committees with the UGC Chairman’s nominees, was perceived as an attempt to supersede the government’s notifications.

Vacancies in the V-C positions at Bharathiar University and Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Education University have persisted since October 2022 and November 2022, respectively.