The University of Madras announced on Tuesday that it had postponed its 159th convocation scheduled for December 1.
According to Registrar David P. Jawahar, it was done for ‘administrative reasons.’
The university usually holds its convocation during November/December, when degree certificates of Ph. D graduates are distributed and toppers receive their medals. But with the Vice-Chancellor yet to be appointed, a decision on holding the convocation has not been taken.
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University officials said the convocation could not be delayed for long as the validity of provisional certificates given to Ph. D graduates was only for a year.
When the Syndicate met on November 4, the members were informed of a proposal to hold the convocation.
The issue of who would sign the certificates was taken up without resolution.
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Since the convenor committee was acting in place of the V-C, it was suggested that Higher Education secretary A. Karthik sign the certificates. But the Syndicate members dissented and sought legal opinion.
Meanwhile, the university began preparations for convocation.
Officials approached the Governor-Chancellor’s office to ascertain his availability. The Governor’s office had given the university December 1 as the preferred date.
The university printed 1.5 lakh certificates to be distributed to affiliated colleges enabling them to hold their graduation day at a later date. An official said though the certificates had been printed, the signature or facsimile had not been affixed.
On the reason for going ahead, a senior official said: “We did not want to cause embarrassment to the Governor’s office, so we tried to resolve the issue. The legal opinion was also not clear, but we did not foresee this sort of dissent.”
The last time the convocation was delayed was in 2013 before R. Thandavan took over as the V-C. Mr. Thandavan conducted two convocations after he assumed office.
On December 1, as many as 700 Ph. D candidates, including foreign graduates, were expected receive their degree certificates and around 150 students were to have received gold medals.
Syndicate and senate members said students were paying dearly for the government’s apathy in not appointing a V-C. Incidentally, the higher education department too does not have a full-time secretary.
Though the Syndicate is supposed to meet every month, the norm has been given the go-by as the secretary has been busy. Though officials said they would seek a new date for the Syndicate meeting, some members said it could be months before the Secretary convenes a meeting.
“The Syndicate meeting held on November 4 was the first in three months. The University printed all the certificates and preparations had been made for the convocation. The institution has incurred a huge expense, especially at a time of funds crunch,” a member rued.
The event, that was to be held on Dec. 1, has been delayed
for ‘administrative reasons’