TN Guv R N Ravi withdraws three notifications on appointment of VCs

Chennai: Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi on Tuesday withdrew three search committees he had constituted for choosing vice-chancellors to universities, amid a standoff between the Raj Bhavan and the DMK dispensation on the issue of administration of institutions funded by the state government.

In a statement, the Raj Bhavan said the governor’s actions relate to the search committees constituted for Bharathiar University in Coimbatore, The Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University and University of Madras on September 6.

“The governor is hopeful that the government will now constitute search committees including a nominee of UGC (University Grants Commission) chairman in line with the judgments of constitutional courts,” the statement said, and asked the state government to withdraw three notifications issued by it and constitute a committee in line with the UGC guidelines.

The statement said the governor’s action is line with a December 19,2023 judgement of the Madras High Court which directed the Puducherry Government and Puducherry Technological University to take immediate measures to amend statutory provisions governing the varsity to bring it in conformity with the UGC Regulations 2018.

The issue relates to the Governor constituting committees to choose VCs to three universities on September 6 by appointing a fourth member on behalf of the chairman of the UGC instead of three members. However, the Government issued another notification excluding the UGC member.

“…the Hon’ble Governor is hopeful that the Government of Tamil Nadu will do the needful as indicated above, is withdrawing (three notifications) and awaits appropriate action from the government at the earliest in this regard to ensure that the cause of higher education and future of several hundred thousand students in the state are not adversely affected,” the statement added.