A piquant situation has emerged at the Pondicherry Central University with the newly appointed Registrar taking charge even while his predecessor is yet to vacate the office.
On Friday, Vice-Chancellor Chandra Krishnamurthy passed an order, that she said was, based on an instruction from the Human Resource Development Ministry, relieving Registrar Raajiv Yaduvanshi from his duties and asking him to hand over charge to S. Pannirselvame, Dean, School of Humanities of the university.
While Mr. Yaduvanshi has refused to vacate the office till further orders from the Cadre Controlling Authority (of the Ministry of Home Affairs), Mr. Pannirselvame took charge on October 24.
For the past one week, both have been coming to the office as Registrar. Mr. Yaduvanshi has been occupying the Registrar’s office on the second floor of the administrative building, while Mr. Pannirselvame has been working in a parallel office on the same floor.
ConfusionThe piquant situation is causing confusion among the teaching and non-teaching staff. Mr. Pannirselvame has issued circulars to the Heads of Departments, asking them to submit details of attendance.
However, the JAC has not responded to the circulars. The Pondicherry University SC/ST Employees Association has extended support to Mr. Pannirselvame.
Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has urged the Human Resource Development Ministry to reconsider the appointment of Chandra Krishnamurthy as Vice-Chancellor.
CPI(M) secretary V. Perumal said the VC had been violating rules. The university’s decision to repatriate the Registrar did not follow the proper procedure, he said.
The appointment of a professor as Registrar in-charge resulted in unrest among the faculty and the students.
The HRD Ministry should recall the VC. It should also appoint a new convener for the fact-finding committee to continue with the proceedings and submit a final report, he said.
