MADURAI: With the arrest of Dr S Navaneethakrishnan, a member of the vice-chancellor search committee, on charges of exhortion, problems plaguing Madurai Kamaraj University has once again come to the fore.If such corrupt persons are nominated to the search committee, then what sort of a vice-chancellor would be nominated, a professor wondered. It may be recalled that the recruitment drive in 2010, when about 100 people were hired, was mired in controversy as there were charges that the posts were either sold to the highest bidder or to people close to the then ruling party. An aggrieved PhD scholar pointed out that most of those who were appointed then were incompetent and inexperienced. Even these recruitments were not enough to fill the vacancies and this year, retirement of about 25 professors added to the MKU’s woes.With the post of the vice-chancellor lying vacant, the vacuum is being felt acutely in all levels.The V-C post has remained vacant ever since the tenure of previous V-C Karpaga Kumaravel expired in April this year. Four months on and with the new academic year already on the roll, the university remains headless. As per UGC norms, a vice-chancellor is appointed by a search committee comprising three members, out of which two are nominated one each by the Senate and Syndicate, while the third member has to be nominated by the Chancellor. Dr Navaneethakrishnan has been appointed by the Syndicate. But it remains unclear as to why the Chancellor has not nominated his nominee yet.”It is not just the post of VC that is vacant, even the posts of registrar, executive engineer and finance officer is lying vacant”, said a professor. With these key posts lying vacant, there are no officers to even supervise the construction work going on in the campus.In the absence of a VC, the university is governed by a convener’s committee comprising four members from the Syndicate and a convener, who is the secretary of the Higher Education Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu.” “The Tamil Nadu Federation of Universities’ Faculty Association (TANFUFA) has stressed the need for immediate appointment of a VC, who should be honest and capable of providing transparent and democratic functioning. “The Chancellor, whose term of office is over, should be replaced. Unless this is done, considerations other than merit will continue to dominate the university appointments as has already been witnessed in the appointments of Senate and Syndicate after the election,” charged S Krishnasami, Convener, TANFUFA.When asked to comment on staff shortage, Special Officer R Jayaraman replied that there are various parameters involved, such as following reservation policy prescribed by the government. The State government also has to allocate necessary budget for appointment of university professors, he added. Elaborating on this, he said that on an average Rs 10 lakh should be paid to a teaching staff per year. So, around `45 crore should be allocated for the university every year. The university cannot be managed by the income generated by it alone, he reiterated.When contacted, Higher Education Minister P Palaniappan told Express, “Steps will be taken to fill the vacancies.”When asked to comment on the recent arrest of MKU search committee member, he said, “Legal action will be taken against the Syndicate member appointee if he is found guilty.”
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