CHENNAI/THANJAVUR : Three weeks after the landmark verdict of the Supreme Court granting “deemed assent” to 10 bills that transferred powers to appoint V-Cs in many of the state-run universities from the governor to the government, the Tamil Nadu government has formed search panels for the appointment of V-Cs in Tamil University and The Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University.
A three-member search panel — comprising Aruna Jagadeesan, retired judge of the Madras High Court, as the government’s nominee, S Sachidhanandham, former V-C of the law university and former professor of National Law University (New Delhi), as the syndicate’s nominee, and V Vijayakumar, former V-C of the law university, as the senate’s nominee — has been constituted for selecting a new V-C for TN Dr Ambedkar Law University.
The search panel for Tamil University consists of five members. Justice KBK Vasuki, former Judge of the Madras High Court, and K Deenabandu, former Chief Secretary of TN, will be the government’s nominees. M Selvam, retired professor of Bharathidasan University, and M Thangaraju, former V-C of Periyar University, will be the syndicate’s nominees, and S Rajendran, professor and head of economics department of the Gandhigram Rural Institute, will be the senate’s nominee.
Notably, the respective Acts governing these universities did not have a governor-chancellor’s nominee in the search panel, unlike many other state universities. While the chancellor’s nominees have been removed in some of these through 10 amendment bills cleared by the apex court, a few other universities still have the nominees.
It is to be noted that the 10 bills transferred the powers of appointing V-Cs in 18 state universities. Higher education department officials said search panels for all other state universities will be notified soon.