The one-man commission appointed by the Governor to inquire into the audiotape scandal involving a woman faculty member’s alleged attempt to ‘lure’ four girl students of Devanga Arts College at the behest of ‘senior officials’ of the Madurai Kamaraj University finished its first round of inquiry on Saturday.
A total of 12 MKU staff and two people from Aruppukottai, where the college is located, met the commission and made their representations on Saturday.
R. Santhanam, the retired IAS officer who heads the commission with the assistance of two co-opted members, said he would be available at the Circuit House in Madurai from 10 a.m. till 1.30 p.m. and at the MKU in the afternoon to meet people.
Earlier on Saturday, though Mr. Santhanam and his team waited at the Circuit House in Madurai for over three hours, no one turned up.
In the afternoon, when the team visited the MKU, 10 teaching and two non-teaching staff of the varsity and two persons from Aruppukottai met with the commission.
‘No info on audiotape’
Sources said that almost all the MKU staff, which included assistant professors G. Jayachandran, J. Shunmugaraja, B. Ashok Kumar, P. Jeyabharathy, E.V. Regin, S.Pari Parameswaran, and Syndicate member S. Rajashabala, who met the commission, presented little information on the audiotape scandal and instead highlighted how the issue had tarnished the image of the MKU.
M. Rajarajan, Additional Controller of Examination, MKU, met the commission and provided details about the engagement of Ms. Nirmala Devi in paper evaluation by the MKU’s Directorate of Distance Education for three days in February this year.
On concerns being raised about the commission’s insistence on written representations by those wanting to provide information on the case, Mr. Santhanam said that he was willing to meet people who want to provide information orally. “However, it is not preferred since there will be difficulties in substantiating such information,” he said.
