CHENNAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin will boycott the At Home Reception hosted by Governor RN Ravi at the Raj Bhavan on Friday to mark Independence Day, protesting against the Governor's actions, which the Tamil Nadu government claims are against the interests of the state's people.
An official release here said Higher Education Minister Govi Chezhiaan will boycott the convocations of Alagappa University and Thiruvalluvar University to be held on August 18 and 19. However, the government did not clarify whether the Ministers and senior officials of the government will attend the At Home Reception or not.
The release, quoting a statement from the higher education minister, said the governor has forwarded the Bill for establishing Kalaignar University in Kumbakonam to the President, to delay its establishment. Also, after the Tamil Nadu government obtained a historic verdict from the Supreme Court regarding the laws relating to universities, a BJP functionary, Kutty alias Venkachalapathy, moved the Madras High Court, which stayed the operationalisation of nine laws that were granted “deemed assent” by the SC. These laws took away powers of the Governor to appoint V-Cs to many state-run universities and vested them with the government instead.
The State government moved the SC for vacating this stay of the High Court. "However, the Governor has hastily filed an affidavit before the SC (in the case), supporting the views of Venkatachalapathy,” the release said. Besides clearly exposing the political bias of the Governor, the release said the filing of this affidavit also is an example of how he is acting in a partisan manner.
Cheziaan charged that the the actions and the obstacles imposed by the Governor are the reason for many universities functioning without V-Cs at the moment, thereby affecting the higher education of students.
The Minister said that in this backdrop, the Chief Minister will not take part in the At Home Reception to be hosted by the Governor on Independence Day. Moreover, the minister said he himself would boycott the convocations of Alagappa University and Thiruvalluvar University scheduled respectively for August 18 and 19.