SALEM: The Periyar University has come under criticism for suspending an assistant professor and terminating four consolidated staff from service for talking to the media against the university. While the suspension pertains to a matter that happened a few days back, the issue linked to the termination of consolidated staff dates back to 2019. Both the orders were issued on Saturday.
In the first case, assistant professor K Premkumar, who is also the general secretary of the Periyar University Teachers Association (PUTA), was suspended after he sent a petition to the higher education department on behalf of the PUTA. The petition challenged the university from trying to extend the tenure of a professor for one more year and setting it on the agenda for the syndicate meeting in Chennai. The professor is set to retire in June.
A Tamil newspaper carried a report about the petition on March 1, and the university accused Premkumar of leaking the information and sought an explanation. On March 5, he was suspended for “disregarding rules and bringing disgrace to the university”.
Similarly, the consolidated staff were terminated for staging a protest on the university campus and talking to the media on behalf of the Periyar University Employees Union (PUEU) in 2019. They had raised their demands for permanent employment and better pay, but they were suspended in 2019. The university sought an explanation from them. While the pandemic delayed any further action for two years, they were served termination orders on Saturday, stating that their explanations were unsatisfactory.
A professor at the university said Premkumar had sent the petition to the higher education department but did not speak to the media. The professor alleged that consolidated staff were DMK supporters and recently met the Chief Minister to make a Rs 1 lakh donation to Covid relief fund.
Periyar University Syndicate member, A Arunachalam, said the administration was working against the objectives of PU and considered themselves unquestionable. “Top officials have shown no regard to norms and rules. The silence of the government is intriguing and perplexing. The Higher Education Minister must act against unjust and unlawful event at university,” he said.
Vice-chancellor of the university, R Jagannathan, said the documents related to the syndicate meeting were confidential and should not have been released. "We did know that the assistant professor had access to them and sought an explanation from him. There is no caste angle to this," he assured.