CHENNAI: A day after Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar and Information Minister Kadambur Raju declined to criticise Governor Banwarilal Purohit for appointing M K Surappa of Karnataka as the Vice-Chancellor of Anna University, Law Minister CVe Shanmugam and AIADMK MP Arunmozhithevan on Saturday expressed their displeasure over the appointment.Tamil Nadu is in the forefront in higher education and there are many scholars in the State.It is really regrettable that someone from Tamil Nadu has not been appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Anna university, Shanmugam told mediapersons at Villupuram.
“Governor is the Chancellor of universities. In that capacity, he has appointed the new Vice- Chancellor of Anna University. It is the routine procedure that the State government is consulted in the appointment of VCs irrespective of the party is in power. But, the State government has not been consulted in the appointment of Vice-Chancellors and not even informed about the three names being considered the post. So, there is not even an iota of connection to the government in the appointment of Vice-Chancellors,” Shanmugam added.
Meanwhile, AIADMK MP Arunmozhithevan told mediapersons at Cuddalore that “The AIADMK MPs had stalled the proceedings of Parliament for the entire session to convey the feelings of the people of Tamil Nadu on the Cauvery issue. At this moment, as if to add insult to injury, the Governor has appointed a person from Karnataka as V-C of Anna University as if no one in Tamil Nadu is eligible for that post. We feel extremely sad at this decision.”
Well informed sources said that the search committee recommended three names. Of them, only one is an engineer. The other two are chemistry and mathematics graduates. “How can we appoint a pure science person as Vice-chancellor for Anna University? It is like putting a mathematics professor in a medical university. Had the search committee recommended two engineers, there would have been a choice. Here, the choice was very limited. Since Surappa happened to be IIT director, that proved to be advantage,” the sources said.
Anna university had been functioning without a Vice-Chancellor for two years. If the list of names recommended by the search committee is returned, it will take another six months to complete the whole process. So, Anna university will be headless for some more time. The Governor does not get into the process. He acts as per the recommendation of the search committee. The Governor can select any one of the three names recommended by the search committee. If he raises objections, there will be complaints that he had unnecessarily interfered with the process and that he has gone beyond the search committee recommendations, the sources said.
Looking back
Governor Banwarilal Purohit, who is also the Chancellor of Anna University, on Thursday appoints Surappa as Vice-Chancellor
Surappa, a Kannadiga, is a former director of IIT-Ropar. He held the post from 2009- 2015
Senior leaders of several opposition parties, including DMK, MDMK, PMK, CPI, CPM and Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Neethi Maiam, lash out at the Governor for choosing a Kannadiga for the prestigious post at a time when the Cauvery issue is at its peak
The Governor, though maintains that the selection came after a fair and rigorous selection process
On Saturday, State Law Minister CVe Shanmugam and AIADMK MP Arunmozhithevan criticise the appointment