The run-up to the selection of an academic to be appointed the vice-chancellor of Bharathiar University is seeing a flurry of activities by various associations and individuals that broadly fall into two categories.
One section wants the selection process to continue and the other wants the Governor-Chancellor to disband the three-member selection committee.
The section that wants the process to continue says that the University has suffered for around two years without a vice-chancellor and that a captain is required to steer the ship. The other says that the selection committee has short-listed 10 candidates not based on merit and that there are other factors at work.
It all started with the Association of University Teachers (AUT) alleging nepotism in the selection. It said that the selection committee yielded to pulls and pressures to accommodate a few names in the list of 10. And, it urged the Governor-chancellor to disband the committee and constitute a new one.
The demand for constitution of a new committee saw opposition from the Association of Principals of Colleges of Bharathiar University, which criticised the AUT for levelling baseless allegations and with an ulterior motive at that.
Now, the Aided College Teachers’ Association has joined the bandwagon in questioning the selection process. In its letter to the Governor-chancellor, it said the selection committee had succumbed to political pressure to select a few while overlooking outstanding academics who found a place in the initial list of 140 applicants. It urged the Governor-chancellor to order a probe into the selection process for the truth to be revealed and asked for committee to be dissolved.
Joining them in raising doubts over the selection process is a group of 18 academics from the Bharathiar University, which conducted a signature campaign. In its petition to the Governor-chancellor, it said the list with 10 names betrayed a “pathetic lack of application” of various selection parameters. The selection committee had acted in a cavalier manner showing scant regard for norms. It sought for fairness and transparency in selection.
A former Dean of Science, Bharathiar University, C. Namasivayam has also written to the Governor-chancellor saying his exclusion from the list of names short-listed has come as a surprise because he has the requisite qualification.
After narrating his fight against corruption in the University, he has urged the Governor-chancellor to consider his candidature.
Commenting on the developments, State president, AUT, N. Pasupathi says no other vice- chancellor selection in the recent past in the State has seen as much controversy as this one as casteist and political forces are at play. To put to rest the controversy, the Governor-chancellor should dissolve the committee.
A Bharathiar University Senate member says transparency in selection will quell the allegation and is the way to go forward.
