Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday adopted a Bill empowering the State government to appoint Vice-Chancellors to various universities in the State, in an apparent bid to clip the wings of the Governor on the matter.
Chief Minister M K Stalin recalled that the Punchhi Commission on Centre-State relations had, while dealing with the subject of VCs’ appointment, said, “There will be a clash of functions and powers” if the authority to choose the top academician wrests with the Governor.
The ruling DMK’s move came on a day when State Governor R N Ravi inaugurated a two-day conference of VCs at Udhagamandalam, attended by among others, Zoho Corporation CEO Sridhar Vembu, whose participation in the event was questioned by the Congress party.
The Governor is the Chancellor of 13 varsities in the State, Stalin pointed out, with the Higher Education Minister being the Pro-Chancellor.
Today, the Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy tabled the Bill to amend the Tamil Nadu Universities Laws to allow the State government to appoint VCs to the varsities.
The BJP opposed the Bill at the introductory stage while the main opposition AIADMK, taking exception to a remark on late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa by Congress Legislature Party leader K Selvaperunthagai, staged a walkout ahead of the passage of the Bill.
Earlier, Stalin, while appealing for the support of the House to the government’s initiative, said that even in Gujarat, the home-State of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Vice-Chancellors are not appointed by the Governor but by the State.
Same was the case with Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Incidentally, the MVA coalition government in Maharashtra, headed by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, had initiated a similar move in December last.
Stalin, in his speech on the floor of the House, said the State government being not empowered to select the Vice-Chancellors created a “big impact” on higher education.
While the practice by the Governor earlier was to consult the State government before selecting the Vice-Chancellors, “there has been a change in this in the past few years,” he said.
In an apparent reference to the previous AIADMK government, Stalin said that in the last four years, the Governor acted as if the appointment was his “exclusive right” and did not respect the State government that was providing higher education.
“A government elected by the people being unable to appoint the Vice-Chancellor to a university run by it creates a lot of issues in the overall varsity administration. This is against the democratic principles,” Stalin said.
He further said the Punchhi Commission had recommended against appointment of VCs by the Governor, a post “not provided in the Constitution”, reasoning that such power woud lead to controversies and criticism.
“There will be a clash of functions and powers,” between the State government and the Governor, he quoted the commission as stating.
He said the previous AIADMK government had in 2017 opined that the Punchhi Commission report could be accepted and, therefore, it may not feel bad to support the government move today.
The Centre had earlier sought the incumbent DMK government’s opinion on the commission and the latter made it clear that the “recommendation that the Governor should not be given the authority to appoint (a) Vice-Chancellor” should be accepted, Stalin added.
Pointing out that in the BJP-ruled Gujarat also the State government appoints VCs, Stalin sought the support of the saffron party MLAs (four of them in TN) to the Bill.
The issue pertains to the rights of the State, its university education and that of the government elected by the people, Stalin said while soliciting the support of the House before its passage.
Ponmudy recalled the appointment of MK Surappa as Vice-Chancellor of the Anna University by then Governor Banwarilal Purohit when the AIADMK was in power and pointed out at the alleged run-ins he had had with the government, before it appointed a Commission to probe into certain allegations of irregularities against the academician.
The matter is now pending before the Madras High Court.
The Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2022, substitutes the expression “Chancellor” with “government” and states that the Vice-Chancellors shall not be removed from the office except by an order of the government. This Act covers 12 universities in the State and a separate Bill to amend the Chennai University Act, 1923 (Chennai University (Amendment) Act, 2022), with similar intent, was tabled and passed by the House.
As per the Gujarat University Act, 1949 and Telangana Universities Act, 1991, both the States have the power to appoint the Vice-Chancellor of the university. “It is considered that in line with the aforesaid other State university laws, the government of Tamil Nadu should be empowered to appoint the Vice- Chancellors of the State universities. Hence, the present amendment,” said the statement of objects and reasons in the Bills.
Later, speaking to reporters outside the Assembly, deputy leader of the opposition AIADMK O Panneerselvam claimed his party staged a walkout protesting against Rural Development Minister K R Periakaruppan for “disrespectfully” addressing AIADMK legislator A Govindasamy who attempted to express his view on an issue.
Asked about his party’s stance on the Bill piloted by the DMK, he said, divergent views have been expressed on the powers of Governor in appointing Vice-Chancellors. “The DMK is adopting double standards… No Governor can go against the Constitution,” Panneerselvam replied.
