CHENNAI : A PIL petition has been filed in Madras HC for a directive to the AICTE and Anna University to issue a mandatory direction to affiliated colleges to return the original documents relating to qualification and experience at the time of appointment to the posts of teaching faculty, back to the appointees immediately after verification or to accept the documents in the form of soft copies.
A division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and P Rajamanickam, before which the petition from K M Kathick, founder of All Private College Employees Union in Tiruchy came up for hearing on Thursday, ordered notice, returnable by January 24, to the Higher Education secretary, AICTE, Anna University and to the principal of Sree Sastha Institute of Engineering and Technology.
The PIL also prayed for a directive to conduct a proper investigation into the death of one Vasanthavanan, a faculty of Madras Institute of Technology at Chromepet. Petitioner said Vasanthavanan was originally appointed as Assistant Professor in Sree Sastha Engineering College.
Later, he got an offer from MIT. He committed suicide on November 12, due to alleged harassment by the management, by refusing to return the original certificates. It demanded a payment of `3 lakh for returning the documents and also to prostrate before the college correspondent.
A complaint filed with Nazarathpet police did not yield the expected result. Hence, the present PIL for a mandatory direction to colleges and to hold a proper investigation into the death of Vasanthavanan.