Amid tussle with Governor, TN assembly passes Bills empowering state government to appoint VCs in 13 universities

The Governor is the Chancellor of 13 universities in the state, with the Higher Education Minister being the Pro-Chancellor.

Appointing V-Cs to state universities used to be the prerogative of the Governor. The practice is for the Governor to pick the V-C from among three names selected by a search panel. Once the amendment is implemented, the government will give its assent for the V-C pick, leaving the Governor with no role. Also, while earlier the Governor appointed the V-C search panel, the government will do so once the new law comes into force.

The ‘Statement of Objects and Reasons’ of the Bills also says that the secretary in charge of finance will be among the syndicate members in all the universities.

The Bills come at a time when ties between the DMK government and Governor Ravi appear frayed – earlier this month, the DMK-led state government boycotted events organised by the Governor to protest against the alleged delay in clearing several Bills passed by the state Assembly. The two Bills passed on Monday, too, will need the Governor’s nod.

The amendments will empower the government to appoint V-Cs in 13 state universities – Chennai University, Madurai Kamaraj University, Anna University, Bharathiar University, Bharathidasan University, Mother Teresa Women’s University, Alagappa University, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Periyar University, Tamil Nadu Open University, Thiruvalluvar University, Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University and Annamalai University.

While appealing to the House to support the Bills, Chief Minister M K Stalin said that even in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, V-Cs are not appointed by the Governor, but by the state.

The Bills cited the Gujarat University Act, 1949, and the Telangana Universities Act, 1991, as laws that allow state governments to appoint V-Cs. It also referred to the Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000, where the V-Cs are appointed by the Chancellor with the state government’s concurrence.

In December last year, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government had passed a Bill curtailing the powers of the Governor in the appointment of V-Cs in state universities.

In his speech on the floor of the House, Stalin said there was a need to empower the state government to select V-Cs and not doing so would create a “big impact” on higher education.

Responding to opposition by AIADMK MLAs, both CM Stalin and Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy said even the late AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa was in favour of the state government appointing V-Cs in state-run universities.

He said that while earlier, the practice was for the Governor to consult the state government before selecting V-Cs, “there has been a change in this over the past few years… A government elected by the people being unable to appoint the Vice-Chancellor to a university run by it creates a lot of issues in the overall varsity administration. This is against the democratic principles”.

The Bills were passed on a day Governor Ravi inaugurated a two-day conference at Ooty Raj Bhavan for the V-Cs of all state, central and private universities in Tamil Nadu. —With PTI inputs