CHENNAI: The State government has taken a decision to withdraw the order appointing Kalyani Mathivanan, former Vice-Chancellor of Madurai-Kamaraj University, as the chairperson of the TN State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, the Madras High Court was informed on Monday.
The Advocate-General said this when A PIL by activist A Narayanan of PADAM, opposing the appointment, came up before the first bench of Chief Justice SK Kaul and Justice N Sundar on Monday. The government also decided to issue advertisements calling for fresh applications, which would be processed.
The order recalling the appointment of Kalyani would be issued within a week, the Advocate-General added. Appreciating the stand taken by the government, the bench took the statement on record. According to the petitioner, Kalyani was appointed as the VC in April, 2012, but the appointment was set aside by the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on June 26, 2014.
The matter went to the Supreme Court, which upheld her appointment on March 11, 2015. Her academic tenure, however, was marred by allegations of inappropriate appointments, instigated assaults on her critics and general campus unrest.
The petitioner, appearing party-in-person, stated that while making the process afresh, the authorities concerned may keep in mind a notification issued by the Central government, which prescribed the process to be followed, based on the judgment of the Supreme Court dated February 25, 2014. The rules have not been framed under the new Act and the result is that even at district levels, the Child Welfare Committees and Juvenile Justice Boards are not functioning, the petitioner added. This needs some urgent attention, the bench said and posted the matter for March 10.