CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday told the Madras High Court that the inquiry commission appointed to probe complaints of financial irregularity against Anna University vice-chancellor MK Surappa will not pass any orders against him till April 5.
Advocate-General Vijay Narayan gave this undertaking while seeking two weeks to file a counter to Surappa’s plea, which challenged the appointment of the commission. The commission, headed by former high court judge P Kalaiyarasan, was appointed by the State government on November 11, 2020.
When the plea came up for hearing, Additional Solicitor General of India R Shankaranarayanan, representing the chancellor of the university (the Governor of Tamil Nadu), submitted that the “Governor is deeply anguished by the entire development”.
Recording the submissions, Justice S Vaidyanathan said, “The A-G pointed out that there were cases where the V-C of Anna University has been imprisoned, but in the present case on hand, there is only an inquiry that has been contemplated and is been proceeded with and no final decision has been taken and ultimately the chancellor will have to take a decision.”
Taking note of the submissions, the judge said no final decision shall be taken by the commission till April 5. The court then adjourned the hearing to March 15 for the State to file a counter. Earlier, representing Surappa, advocate N Vijayaraghavan contended that the inquiry is nothing but a vindictive step taken by the establishment against the petitioner.