The Association of University Teachers (AUT) has appealed to Governor K Rosaiah to conduct an enquiry into the appointment of the new Registrar of the Bharathiar University in view of the allegations of irregularities and favouritism in the matter.
The Governor is the ex-officio chancellor of the university. The AUT’s BU Coordination Council, which met on Friday to take stock of the recent alarming developments in the university, also expressed deep concern over the controversy surrounding the appointment of the Registrar. The AUT would stage a demonstration in front of the university on June 22 and conduct a mass fast programme at Coimbatore in the first week of July to press its demands, association general secretary C Pichandy said in a release.
The council condemned the arbitrary and undue haste with which conventions and traditions were bypassed in constituting the senate search panel to select the next Vice Chancellor. This was aimed at protecting vested interests, it said and appealed to the Governor to cancel the senate search panel nomination.
It urged the State government to expedite the release of the DVAC report on the alleged malpractices in appointments, transfer of funds and conduct of SLET examination during the past three years. If anyone had been found guilty, he should be punished. It urged Vice Chancellor C Swaminathan not to make any appointments in keeping with the university’s traditions as the process of selecting the V-C had already been initiated.
Alleged irregularities in the BU’s Centre for Participatory and Online Programme (CPOP) should also be investigated. As procedures were overlooked to favour the Kongunadu College of Arts in recognising it as a College with Potential for Excellence, the AUT urged the UGC to cancel the recommendations and withdraw the sanction. The AUT wanted the university to direct all self-financing colleges to pay UGC scales of pay to their teachers and evolve a proper mechanism to monitor the payments.