CHENNAI: A PIL has been filed in the Madras High Court to declare the inclusion of a former director of IIT(K) as a member of the Search Committee for selecting the Vice-Chancellor for Anna University.
The First Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar before which the PIL from P Uchimakali, State secretary of Students Federation of India, came up on Tuesday, adjourned the matter by a day, to enable the Government Pleader to get instructions.
The petitioner submitted that Anantha Padmanabhan is disqualified to be nominated as a member of the Search Committee as he had connection with Anna University and hit by the proviso to Anna University Amendment Act 2017 which says that the person so nominated shall not be a member of any of the authority of the university or shall not be connected with the university or any college or any recognised institution of the university.
The petitioner contended that Anantha Padmanbhan, on retirement as Director from IIT, Kanpur, was brought by D Viswanathan, the then V-C of Anna University as a Professor of Eminence to the university. Therefore, in terms of proviso he was connected with Anna University.
The petitioner has also sought a direction from the court to the Higher Education secretary to constitute a proper search committee in terms of UGC regulations as well as the Anna University Amendment Act, 2017 and not to dilute the qualification for the post of Vice-Chancellor.