The Syndicate of Madurai Kamaraj University which is the highest decision making body for academic and administrative matters, is grappling with vacancies.
While the varsity staff are rejoicing that its eminent faculty are becoming Vice-Chancellors of various universities in the State, there are concerns over the ‘indecisiveness and inordinate delay’ in selecting, electing or nominating members to the Syndicate.
Official sources told ‘The Hindu’ on Saturday that the Syndicate was not a full bench for quite a long time now as there were at least seven vacancies to be filled up and more importantly the elected members’ component had been missing.
What is also worrying the officials is that the tenure of a few more Syndicate members who are Governor nominees is getting over next month which will add up to the list of vacancies.
A senior varsity official cited examples of how Syndicate vacancies, that too of elected category, had been lying vacant for a very long time.
K. Muthuchelian, who got elected as Syndicate member from the Academic Council, became Vice-Chancellor of Periyar University in Salem in 2010 and a replacement for him is yet to be made.
Another elected member from the Academic Council, R. Madhanagopal, who was the Principal of Madurai Kamaraj University College here, had to exit due to certain reasons and that vacancy too calls for action.
Now, a fresh vacancy has arisen in the Syndicate with senior professor P. Gunasekaran getting appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Thiruvalluvar University.
Officials said that a senior most associate professor and senior most assistant professor who had to be nominated to the Syndicate as per MKU Act could not be done due to change in the nomenclature of Reader posts and Lecturer posts.
“These two vacancies are there since the Act has to be amended by due process and somehow the officials are still keeping silent. The lecturer post has been renamed as assistant professor and the reader post is called associate professor now. It has to be changed accordingly,” a senior faculty member following the varsity affairs closely said.
According to officials, the university has to take steps for elections to graduates constituency since choosing a Syndicate member from the Senate could not be done due to this hitch.
S. Vivekanandan, president of Madurai Kamaraj, Manonmaniam Sundaranar, Mother Teresa and Alagappa University Teachers’ Association, was very critical of the lethargy on the part of university administration in following the democratic processes.
“If we don’t have elected and nominated Syndicate members, how can you call it a democratic body? Only Government officials will be there taking decisions on important matters without the representatives of teachers and colleges,” he said.
Another vacancy
University officials also pointed out that the Syndicate will have another vacancy as the term of P.T. Manoharan who got elected from Academic Council is nearing completion.
In August, the term of two Governor-nominees – ‘Agri’ Ganesan and Subbiah – is getting over.
“Now-a-days, what we are having is only truncated Syndicate meetings. It has been a long time that MKU had a full bench meeting,” a member said.
Criticising the Madurai Kamaraj University authorities for being ‘insensitive and indecisive’ in filling up Syndicate vacancies, Mr. Vivekanandan said that a formal request and representation was already made to the current Vice-Chancellor to take steps and MUTA was expecting her to initiate the process.
“Several important posts have fixed tenure and everyone knows when the tenure of a particular official is getting over. Why can’t the university authorities start the selection process in time?” he also asked.
The MUTA president also charged that sometimes the minutes of Syndicate meetings were not circulated to members in time.
“We want to know about dissent notes from members on important matters. We are not getting any information,” he said.
Meanwhile, sources said that the present Registrar in-charge R. Kannan, who is also a Syndicate member with one more year to go, is stepping down on Monday.
