TIRUNELVELI: As many as 35 professors from government-aided St. Xavier's College began an indefinite sit-in protest at the college campus on Monday, alleging violation of State and Union governments' guidelines by the college with regard to the appointment of principal and department heads.
The professors attached to the Madurai Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa and Alagappa University Teachers' Association (MUTA) said, "We will ensure that our protest does not affect students' education. After finishing our classes, we would hold the protest from evening to morning daily. The college administration has already locked our staff toilet, but we will not give up."
Thaarcis Albin, one of the protesting professors, said the college administration flouted provisions of the Tamil Nadu Private Colleges (Regulation) Act, 1976, and University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines while appointing S Mariadoss as principal for the college. "Mariadoss then went on to appoint junior professors as department heads. There is also no transparency in the admission of students. We have been protesting against these irregularities for the past three years. However, the college administration suspended the professors, who questioned the violations, under false charges," he said.
In April, Director of Collegiate Education C Poornachandran assured action on the allegations, and District Collector V Vishnu ordered the Revenue Divisional Officer, Tirunelveli, and the Regional Joint Director (RJD) of Collegiate Education, Tirunelveli, to discuss the issue with the professors and college administration, and submit a report. "However, we are not aware of the outcome. Even when we sought this information through the Right to Information Act, the request was denied," Albin added.
When contacted by TNIE, a college authority requesting anonymity said there was no violation of rules in the principal appointment. He refused to comment on the professors' other allegations. Meanwhile, RJD, Tirunelveli, Baskaran admitted that the principal's appointment was not completely devoid of violations. "My office had not granted approval for his appointment. We had mentioned this in the report we submitted to the Collector. We also sent another report to our director on what is happening in the college. The Higher Education Secretary may conduct talks with the protesters and college administration," he said.