High drama prevailed at the Anna University, in Chennai, after outgoing Registrar S Shanmugavel allegedly refused to hand over charge to his successor, stating that he had withdrawn his resignation and wanted to continue in the post.
Shanmugavel had been relieved from the post and Dean of Alagappa College of Technology S Sivanesan was appointed as the Registrar (in-charge) after the former put in his papers a month ago.
Sources in the university said Shanmugavel submitted his resignation letter on November 1, requesting the authorities to relieve him from duty due to personal reasons.
However, he submitted another letter to the Vice-chancellor on Monday afternoon (December 17), stating that he was withdrawing his resignation and wanted to continue as Registrar as his personal problems had been solved.
To his shock, he received a pre-dated (December 14) letter from the Vice-chancellor the next day (December 18), relieving him from duty and asking him to hand over charge to the new Registrar (in-charge) Sivanesan.
However, Shanmugavel declined to hand over charge to Sivanesan, stating that he had withdrawn his resignation. He had also met Higher Education Secretary Apurva Varma regarding the issue.
Finally, Shanmugavel handed over charge to Sivanesan on Wednesday.
When contacted, officiating Vice-chancellor of Anna University P Kaliraj said, “Shanmugavel resigned his registrar post and asked us to relieve him at the earliest. We carefully considered his request and relieved him of his duties.” “We cannot consider his subsequent request for continuing in the post, as the order appointing Sivanesan as Registrar in charge was served on December 14 and the same was intimated to the government, the Chancellor’s office and the banks where the University holds accounts,” he added.
Supporters of Shanmugavel argued that only the syndicate could select candidates for the posts of Registrar and Controller of Examinations and act on their resignations.