In a surprise development, Tamil Nadu National Law School Vice-Chancellor N. Murugavel has resigned, citing lack of adequate support from some members of the Executive Council.
He sent the resignation letter to the Chief Justice of Madras High Court, who is also the Chancellor of the School.
The school, a residential university here, was established to offer quality legal education, similar to leading national law schools, by the State government by enacting the Tamil Nadu Law School Act, 2012. It is learnt that the resignation has been accepted.
The school, located at Navalurkuttapatttu in Srirangam Assembly Constituency, was inaugurated by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on June 3, 2013.
The tenure of Prof. Murugavel, founding Vice-Chancellor of the School, has come to an end well before the end of three years from the date of appointment.
Confirming the resignation, Mr. Murugavel told The Hindu that he pooled his professional and administrative experience to build the school from scratch since the day he assumed office. However, he could not get support from some Executive Council members. They could not accept the national recognition received by the Law School within a short span of time, he said.
He said he could have contributed more to the development of the school had they cooperated
Recollecting the challenges in the initial period of the school, Prof Murugavel said the State government, particularly Ms. Jayalalithaa, played a key role in the establishment of the Law School. It admitted 100 students for the five year integrated B.A,.LLB (Hons) in the first year itself. The students’ strength had gone up to 260. It was about to admit 200 more students for the current academic year.
The initial contribution of Rs.100 crore by the State government enabled the school to get infrastructure on a par with international standards.
In a related development, the State government has appointed V.Arun Roy, Joint Secretary, Finance, as Registrar of the School. Mr.Roy is expected to assume office on Friday.
