MADURAI: The Madras High Court Bench here was informed on Monday that Higher Education Department had requested search committees constituted for recommending names for appointment as Vice-Chancellors of Madras University and Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) to use a standard format, created by University Grants Commission, for inviting applications to those posts.
MKU counsel T. Sakthi Kumaran produced a copy of the government letter before Justice S. Vaidyanathan who was seized of a writ petition challenging a notification issued by the university inviting applications for the post of Vice-Chancellor. After perusing the letter, the judge adjourned the hearing on the case till Tuesday in order to enable the petitioner’s counsel to get instructions.
Stating that the government letter would be followed in letter and spirit, Mr. Kumaran said that it had been written by K. Gopal, Joint Secretary, Higher Education Department, to P.N. Veda Narayanan, convenor, search committee, Madras University, and C. Murukadas, convenor, search committee, MKU, on October 21 last and advised them to follow the format prepared by the UGC.
In the letter, Mr. Gopal said that the UGC had forwarded the standard proforma to the State Government on October 7 for necessary action and the aim behind creation of a common format for inviting applications was to ensure that a Vice-Chancellor should be a well-rounded personality and should have contributed significantly to the development of higher education.
The UGC also wanted that the appointee should be a good researcher besides possessing adequate administrative experience and being well recognised in the field of expertise. It was also stressed that the successful candidate appointed to the post should have “adequate international exposure so as to bring the universities at a par with the best in the world.”
