The decision of the Syndicate of the University of Madras to transfer seven of the 11 faculty recruited for the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Centre to various other departments has drawn criticism.
Even as the university prepares for the Senate meeting on Saturday when the details of the redeployment will be reported, academics rue that the university has lost an opportunity to develop a world-class department.
University vice-chancellor, P. Doraisamy said the decision was taken as there were 14 faculty members for 18 students.
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Amid high hopes, the National Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology was set up at the university in 2006 with a grant of ₹100 crore to mark its 150th year celebrations. The State government also granted ₹5 crore. The university received ₹70 crore from the UGC and the entire State grant.
From the initial stages, the department faced trouble. The recruitment process was delayed by several years and finally in 2015, two professors, one associate professor and seven assistant professors were appointed. The university did not take the mandatory approval from the government and the appointments violated the State’s reservation roster and the University Grants Commission norms.
In December 2014, the then Higher Education Secretary Hemanth Kumar Sinha and the Director for Technical Education Praveen Kumar, as ex-officio members of the Syndicate, put the appointments on hold and sought the setting up of a three-member sub-committee to look into the lapses.
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But the then vice-chancellor R. Thandavan went ahead with the appointments amid objections by some members in the next Syndicate. Subsequently, the Local Fund Audit and the Comptroller Auditor General audit also raised objections and insisted that the university get the required ratification of the appointments from the UGC.
The Syndicate in its October 3 meeting decided to transfer the excess faculty to various science departments in which the appointees had specialised in.
Former professors of the university term it an extreme step unbecoming of the institution. “What it shows is that not every appointment has been above board. In Annamalai University, teachers are being transferred within their specialisation. Madras university has transferred people selected for nanoscience and nanotechnology to other departments. This will not strengthen but kill the department,” said Michael Aruldas, former head of Endocrinology.
“The university should have got the government’s approval for the appointments. It is also affecting social justice as it is denying the chances of someone with specialisation in that subject,” he said.
However, the vice-chancellor, said, “We wanted to develop the centre and wrote to the UGC for sanctioning remaining funds. But they informed us that the programme had been closed in March 2015. The appointments were made when the programme was nearing closure. So, we have to redeploy the faculty.”