CHENNAI: Supreme Court’s landmark judgment on Tuesday that Governor RN Ravi’s reserving of 10 bills readopted by the Assembly on November 18, 2023, for President’s assent was erroneous and the bills be “deemed to have been cleared” is expected to clear the decks for appointing vice-chancellors to at least eight of the 10 state universities that remain headless.
Besides certain other provisions, the 10 bills mainly included amendments to the original acts of 18 state-run universities to transfer the powers of appointing and removing V-Cs from governor to the state government.
Contrary to popular perception and many media reports, the bills did not include provisions to remove governor from being the varsities’ chancellor. Currently, the governor serves as chancellor of 20 of the 22 state universities while the Chief Justice of Madras High Court and Chief Minister respectively serve as Chancellors of the Tamil Nadu National Law University and The Tamil Nadu Dr J Jayalalithaa Music and Fine Arts University.
For the 18 universities covered in the 10 bills, the state government will henceforth retain the powers to constitute the V-C search panel and select a V-C based on the panel’s recommendations. In some of these universities, a preliminary reading of the amendments indicated that the governor will continue to retain the power to send a nominee to the search panel. Of the 20 universities where governor serves as Chancellor, the two excluded by these 10 bills are the University of Madras (UoM) and the Tamil Nadu Physical Education and Sports University (TNPESU).
A separate bill passed by the Assembly to amend the act governing UoM to shift the power of appointing V-Cs from governor to government was reserved by Ravi for President’s assent prior to November 18, 2023, and therefore it did not seem to be included in the ambit of SC’s verdict.
Neither was the Tamil Nadu Siddha Medical University Bill of 2022, which was enacted to set up a new university for Indian medicine with CM as Chancellor. This was also reserved by the Governor for President’s assent prior to November 18, 2023.
Sources said the government is expected to take measures to fill the V-C posts in the eight universities soon. These are Anna, Bharathiar, Madurai Kamaraj, Tamil Nadu Teachers Education, Annamalai, Tamil, Bharathidasan and Tamil Nadu Agricultural universities.
Of the eight, while convenor’s committees are managing the affairs in seven, the governor made the Registrar as V-C (in-charge) in TNAU. The fate of UoM and TNPESU is unclear. The delay in appointing of V-Cs was mainly due to the governor’s insistence in adding a nominee of UGC Chairperson to the search panel, which the government opposed.
Noted academician SP Thyagarajan said. “To ensure the quality of higher education, it is important to ensure that appointment of V-Cs is not politically influenced by the party in power,” he said.
18 universities covered in the 10 bills
Madurai Kamaraj (MKU), Anna, Bharathiar, Bharathidasan, Mother Teresa, Alagappa, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Periyar, Tamil Nadu Open University. Thiruvalluvar, Tamil Nadu Teachers Education (TNTE), Annamalai, Tamil Nadu Dr.Ambedkar Law, Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical, Tamil Nadu Agricultural (TNAU), Tamil, Tamil Nadu Fisheries, and Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University
(With inputs from Pon Vasanth B A)