Madras High Court stays probe on Salem Periyar University Vice-Chancellor

The Vice-Chancellor, who was arrested on December 27 and booked under various sections of IPC, was released on bail by a judicial magistrate.

Chennai: In an embarrassment to the Tamil Nadu government, the Madras High Court on Friday stayed the probe into a case of cheating filed by the Salem Police against Periyar University Vice-Chancellor R Jagannathan.

The Vice-Chancellor, who was arrested on December 27 and booked under various sections of the IPC and Prevention of Atrocities (SC/ST) Act, was released on bail by a judicial magistrate.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh granted the interim relief to Jagannathan, a renowned academic, on a petition filed by him to quash the FIR registered against him by the Salem Police.

While staying the probe into the case, the judge also heard the submissions made by Advocate-General P S Raman who said the police have collected additional material against the V-C and will be filing a status report very soon.

The stay by Justice Venkatesh comes two weeks after the Madras High Court has sought a detailed report from Salem Judicial Magistrate on his granting bail to the Vice-Chancellor. The public prosecutor had contended before the court that the Magistrate failed to consider the mandatory provisions of Section 15-A of the SC/ST Act and released the Vice-Chancellor on bail.

Jagannathan, who was appointed as VC of the Salem-based university by then Governor Banwarilal Purohit in June 2021, is a known agricultural expert and had served as the dean of the prestigious Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore.

The Vice-Chancellor has been under the cloud for the better part of his tenure with several political parties and activists levelling allegations of corruption against him and his colleagues at the university established by the state government in 1997.

Police filed the case against Jagannathan following a complaint filed by I Elangovan, legal advisor of the Periyar University Employees Union (PUEU).

In his complaint, Elangovan alleged that the Vice-Chancellor along with the Registrar founded Periyar University Technology Entrepreneurship and Research Foundation (PUTER Foundation) in their own names by misusing the varsity funds. The foundation functions within the university premises.

It is alleged that the University administration, during a meeting of the Syndicate in November, proposed a collaboration with PUTER to conduct training programmes for the students. PUEU and the Association of University Teachers (AUT) have red-flagged the proposal demanding how the institution can collaborate with a firm in which the V-C and Registrar, both employees of the University, are directors.

They alleged that the Vice-Chancellor and other members of the administration were misusing funds and the infrastructure of the public university. The arrest comes even as an inquiry committee constituted by the state government to investigate several complaints against Jagannathan is yet to submit its report. The committee was given a two-month extension recently.