CHENNAI: Rita John has taken charge as the new registrar of University of Madras.
Rita, who succeeded S Elumalai, is professor and head of Theoretical Physics department in University of Madras. She was selected among the 11 candidates, who were interviewed on June 24, by a panel constituted by the higher education department.
She took charge as the registrar on June 27 at 1.30 pm, however, on the same day, a syndicate meeting of the university was held in which a few of the members raised objections to her appointment. They alleged that due procedures were not followed in the registrar’s appointment process, hence the appointment was invalid.
“As per rule, the syndicate should be apprised about the shortlisted candidates and the panel, which will interview them, as the vice chancellor’s post is lying vacant. However, in this case the syndicate was directly informed about the registrar’s appointment and it irked many,” said a syndicate member of the university.
Another syndicate member informed that the new higher education secretary, P Shankar, managed to pacify the members and sort out the issue.
“The higher education secretary urged us not to oppose the appointment, ensuring that in future all guidelines will be followed. This was his first syndicate meeting after joining as higher education secretary, we didn’t want to create any trouble for him,” said another syndicate member.
Rita has authored a book titled ‘Solid State Physics’, which is prescribed in the model syllabus by University Grants Commission (UGC) for physics students. She has also served as domain expert for the Tamil Nadu class 11 and class 12 physics textbooks revised in 2018 and has also authored a few topics. She has edited and published four books on advanced topics in physics.