The Madras High Court Bench here on Monday directed Nagamalai Pudukottai police here to conduct a preliminary enquiry on charges levelled against Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) former vice-chancellor Kalyani Mathivanan and six of its Syndicate members of having misused varsity funds to the tune of Rs.11.66 lakh to conduct their personal court case. Disposing of a direction petition filed by M. Lionel Antonyraj of Save MKU Coalition, Justice M.M. Sundresh also directed the police to register a First Information Report (FIR) if any cognisable offence was made out on the basis of the complaint made by the petitioner who contended that the former VC and others were liable to be prosecuted for criminal breach of trust.
Explaining the genesis of the case, the petitioner’s counsel, S. Vanchinathan, pointed out that the Nagamalai Pudukottai police had registered a FIR against Ms. Mathivanan and a few others last year under Section 307 (attempt to murder) for having allegedly engaged a gang which assaulted Save MKU Coalition convenor A. Srinivasan on May 16, 2014.
Subsequently, the former VC and others filed a petition in the High Court Bench to quash the FIR. They also engaged a senior counsel who claimed a legal fee of Rs.10.5 lakh, apart from Rs. 1.61 lakh charged by a junior lawyer, to conduct the case. The university’s Syndicate passed a resolution on October 18, 2014, to pay the fees from university funds.
Stating that six members of the Syndicate had given their assent to the resolution and two had dissented, the counsel contended that Ms. Mathivanan as well as the six Syndicate members should be made answerable for having misused public money.
