A coalition of educationists and social activists has submitted a memorandum to the Governor and the Higher Education Secretary, seeking an overhaul of public universities in the State embroiled in corruption.
After meeting the Governor, the coalition members said authorities at universities were increasingly facing corruption charges, which underscored the need for transparency in appointment of vice-chancellors.
In the memorandum, the activists have said Kalyani Mathivanan, Vice-Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University, in her bio-data submitted to the search committee had stated that she was a Professor and Head of the Department of English at Ethiraj College, whereas she served only as an Associate Professor.
‘Appointment illegal’Norms were clear that a person with distinguished academic experience as professor for 10 years, competence and commitment should be appointed as a vice-chancellor. Hence, the appointment of Ms. Kalyani Mathivanan was illegal, they said, demanding that she be relieved of her post.
In addition, in a case of attack on Professor A. Srinivasan, Convenor of Save MKU Coalition on May 16, the First Information Report has named the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar in-charge as the first and second accused. Under such circumstances, the continuance of such people in high offices was neither tenable nor desirable on moral and ethical grounds, said coalition convener Narayanan.
A petition challenging the grounds and validity of her appointment was submitted to the Government on July 30, 2012, and it was yet to be acted upon. On Friday, a delegation of Change India submitted a fresh petition to the Governor and the Chief Minister’s cell, pressing action on their petitions.
13 cases of scamsListing 13 cases of alleged scams and irregularities at State universities, many of them under a DVAC probe, the coalition sought the constitution of a Special Fast Track Court and a Special Investigation and Prosecution Team to consolidate all cases of corruption in public universities reported from 2008.
