NEW DELHI: The University Grants Commission (UGC) has written to the Tamil Nadu chief secretary, objecting to the constitution of search-cum- selection committees for the appointment of vice-chancellors of state universities without a nominee of the commission chairman, official sources said.
The UGC has warned that appointing a vice-chancellor in violation of the higher education regulator's norms shall be "null and void" and can lead to legal complications.
The UGC letter was in reference to a September 13 gazette notification by the Tamil Nadu government to constitute a search committee to recommend a panel of three persons for the selection of vice-chancellor for the University of Madras, one of the oldest in the country.
An official source said that the UGC has pointed out a Supreme Court judgment of last year, which referred to the appointment of the vice-chancellor at Sardar Patel University, Gujarat.
The apex court had noted that the “appointment of VCs cannot be made dehors the applicable UGC regulations, even if the State Act concerned prescribes diluted eligibility criteria vis-a-vis the criteria prescribed by UGC regulations.”
There has been a stand-off between the Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi and the state's DMK-led government over the appointments of vice-chancellors. This conflict over constituting a search committee to select the VC has resulted in the state universities being headless for the past few months.
On September 6, the governor, who is the ex-officio chancellor of state universities and makes the appointments of VCs, announced the constitution of three search-cum-selection committees to appoint vice-chancellors to three institutions -- the University of Madras, Bharathiar University in Coimbatore and the Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University in Chennai.
He also introduced a fourth committee member by nominating a person on behalf of the UGC Chairman Prof M. Jagadesh Kumar.
On September 13, the state's higher education department issued a notification for a search-cum-selection committee by excluding the nominee of the UGC chairman, which the governor termed an "act of impropriety" and demanded the state withdraw the notification.
The Tamil Nadu government has in April passed two bills that empowered it to appoint VCs to 13 state-run universities.
The stand-off between the state and the governor has led to no appointment of VCs in these three universities. While there has been no vice-chancellor for the University of Madras for four months, the Bharathiar University and The Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University have been without a VC for the past nine months.