TIRUCHY: THE arrest of Bharathiar University Vice-Chancellor A Ganapathi in Coimbatore on charges of demanding a bribe for appointment has created ripples in academia with some teachers’ association leaders calling for an investigation into all appointments made during the vice-chancellor’s tenure and all the postings made in the State’s universities over the past 10 years.
Association of University Teachers general secretary C Pichandi said, “The appointments made over the last 10 years in all universities in the State should be probed. A sitting high court judge should lead the probe. Appointments in the universities in the State should be centralised.”
K Pandiyan, a former president of the association, said that a number of vice-chancellors had faced investigation by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption. “At the end of every DVAC case, nothing comes out. This has to stop,” he said.
Aided College Teachers Association general secretary S Sahaya Sathish welcomed the arrest of Ganapathi. “Those who secured university positions during this vice-chancellor’s tenure should also be brought under scrutiny.
The investigation should expand to other universities in the State,” he said. Former Bharathidasan University vice-chancellor K Meena had also come under the DVAC scanner for alleged irregularities in appointments. Former Anna University vice-chancellor R Radhakrishnan was sentenced to 5 years’ rigorous imprisonment in a bribery case filed by the DVAC. In 2009, he became the first vice-chancellor in Tamil Nadu to be suspended over a corruption case.
K Muthuchelian and C Swaminathan, former vice-chancellors of Periyar University in Salem, had also come under DVAC scrutiny. So had former Bharathiar University vice-chancellor James Pitchai and former Tamil Nadu Agricultural University vice-chancellor P Murugesa Boopathi.