The Tamil Nadu government has decided to conduct an inquiry on Dr MK Surappa, Vice-Chancellor of the Anna University based on six allegations of corruption and misuse of power. What is surprising is that the first allegation was received on February 21, 2020 and action has been initiated only on November 11, not very long after Dr Surappa irked the government by directly writing to the Centre for an IoE status.
The state's Higher Education Department in a government order (GO(Rt)No 138) said that there have been serious allegations on the VC. "A Suresh, Tiruchirapalli, in his representation dated February 21, 2020, sent to the Chief Minister's Special Cell has charged that corruption is rampant in Anna University, with professors appropriating crores of rupees from government funds and Shathinatha, Deputy Director, Anna University and Dr Surappa are involved in corruption to the tune of Rs 200 crore," read the order. "Sakthinathan and Dr Surappa have collected a sum total of nearly Rs 80 crore by taking bribes of Rs 13 lakh to Rs 15 lakh per candidate for the recruitment of Temporary Teaching Fellows of the constituent colleges and Anna University main campus," it added.
But the allegations did not stop there. The order mentions one C Varadharajan who alleged that the examination office was involved in various scams and office assistants were promoted with fake certificates. Another e-mail from 'Save Anna University' alleged that Selladurai was appointed to an Additional Registrar post without the approval of the Syndicate. The order also accuses Dr Surappa of mailing wrong information to AICTE about final-year students being graduated without an examination and that one R Adhikesan has alleged that Dr Surappa has used his influence to appoint his daughter in the university and that there is a scam in the purchase of machineries for constituent colleges.
The government has appointed Madras High Court retired judge Justice P Kalaiyarasan as the inquiry officer under provisions of the Anna University Act, 1978 and has given him a duration of three months to complete the inquiry. Justice Kalaiyarasan will have to inquire into the internal functioning of the university and find out whether the Anna University Act, 1978 has been upheld during Dr Surappa. The retired judge will also crosscheck the recruitments made Dr Surappa's tenure and check the amount of funds received by the university in the same period. He will also have to suggest ways to prevent such problems, if he finds any, in the future. Justice Kalaiyarasa's last appointment was as a Permanent Judge of the High Court of Madras on April 7, 2016.
