In an unusual development, the Vice-Chancellors (V-Cs) of Bharathidasan University in Tiruchi and Periyar University in Salem were on Thursday granted extensions in service “until further orders”, after their tenure ended.
Bharathidasan University V-C P. Manisankar received the extension order hours after handing over the charge to the Convener Committee, headed by Higher Education Secretary Apporva. Director of Technical Education K. Vivekanandan and Senate members M. Selvam and Nithya were the other members of the committee.
Mr. Manisankar, after attending to official work on his last day as the V-C, returned to his residence in Karaikudi in the evening.
It was only after reaching his residence that he received an official communication from the Governor’s office stating that his tenure had been extended until further orders.
Mr. Manisankar said that he would return to the University on Friday to discharge his duties as V-C.
Similarly, the tenure of Periyar University V-C P. Kolandaivel has been extended until further notice, through the Governor’s orders.
Mr. Kolandaivel, who became the V-C of the University in 2018, was supposed to retire on Thursday. However, according to official sources, orders were issued by Governor Banwarilal Purohit, also the Chancellor of the University, on Thursday evening, to extend Mr. Kolandaivel’s tenure until further orders, or till a new V-C is appointed to the University.
In 2011, then Governor Surjit Singh Barnala had extended the tenure of Anna University V-C P. Mannar Jawahar by a year.
