The Higher Education Department has finally constituted the Bharathiar University Vice-Chancellor selection committee on Friday.
The state government has nominated former Higher Education secretary K Ganesan, as its nominee in the search committee. With this, the selection of the new VC for Bharathiar University, which has been vacant for the past 17 months, is likely to speed up. In November last year, former VC of Tamil University C Subramaniam was elected as senate nominee and former VC of University of Madras SP Thyagarajan was elected as syndicate nominee, in the VC selection committee.
But, the appointment of government nominee, who will also be the convenor, in the search committee got delayed. Academics have alleged that due to delay in appointment of a new VC, university administration got paralyzed. In March 2016, A Ganapathy assumed charge as the Vice-Chancellor of Bharathiar University. Ganapathy's name was shortlisted by the selection committee comprising of Anna University former VC M Rajaram, retired principal T Veluchamy and Association of University Teachers former president N Senthamarai.
In February 2018, he was arrested by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption, after he was caught red-handed accepting bribe. Subsequently, he was suspended from the VC post by the Governor Chancellor. Association of University Teachers president N Pasupathy said, "Former VC Gapathy was arrested by DVAC on a corruption charge. The DVAC also conducted an enquiry about appointments made during the tenure of G James Pithcai as Bharathiar University VC. The Association of University Teachers is of the opinion that appointments and tender allotments made during the tenure of C Swaminathan should also be properly enquired."The past VCs have spoiled the name of Bharathiar University. So, we expect the selection committee to nominate a panel of three names who will function as VC honestly and transparently, he added.
In the case of Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University, M Jagadesh Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University will be the chancellor's nominee and S Subbiah, former VC of Alagappa University will be the Government's nominee and T Balakrishnan, former VC of Periyar University will be syndicate's nominee.
