The State Government has constituted two search committees to recommend three suitable candidates each for the post of Vice Chancellor of the Periyar University in Salem and the Bharathidasan University in Tiruchi. The post had been lying vacant in the two universities for over three-and-a-half months.
In respect of the Periyar University, C. Swaminathan laid down the post of Vice Chancellor on June 15, and in the case of Bharathidasan University, V.M. Muthu Kumar demitted office on June 12.
An order issued on Wednesday stated that T.S. Sridhar, former Additional Chief Secretary, had been made the government nominee and the committee’s convener. R. Manian, former professor, Zonal Research Centre of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, is the nominee of the Senate and M.N. Ponnusamy, former professor, Crystallography and Biophysics, Madras University, is the nominee of the Syndicate.
As for the Bharatidasan University, Santha Sheela Nair, former Vice-Chairperson of the State Planning Commission, had been named the government nominee and convener. R. Venakataratnam, former senior professor and head of sociology, Madurai Kamaraj University, would be the nominee of the Senate, and S. Sivasubramanian, chairman of the Centre for Advanced Research and Development, Vels University, Chennai, will be the nominee of the Syndicate.
As per the amended laws governing the two universities, the search committees are required to make their recommendation within four months of their constitution: by February 3, 2018. Each committee will suggest three persons for the post.
According to new legal provision which came into force on May 27, the panels should be set up at least four months before the probable date of occurrence of vacancy.
