After NEET Bill stand-off with Governor, TN Assembly adopts bill empowering state to appoint Vice-Chancellors 

In a move to curb the powers of the Governor of Tamil Nadu, who still hasn't forwarded the Anti-NEET Bill passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly to the President of India, the Assembly adopted a bill which will empower the state government to appoint Vice-Chancellors to the several universities located in the state. This happened on Monday, April 25. 

K Ponmudy, Higher Education Minister, tabled the bill to amend the Tamil Nadu Universities Laws which will allow the Tamil Nadu government to appoint VCs to the varsities, as reported by PTI. 

At the introductory stage, the BJP opposed the bill while the main opposition AIADMK staged a walkout ahead of the passage of the bill. Though AIADMK did take exception to a remark on late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa by Congress Legislature Party leader K Selvaperunthagai. PMK supported the bill.

Chief Minister MK Stalin urged the members to support the initiative and pointed out that in states like Gujarat, Telangana and Karnataka, Vice-Chancellors are not appointed by the Governor, they are appointed by the state government. 

As per a report in NDTV, the Chief Minister said, "By convention, the Governor appoints Vice-Chancellors in consultation with the state government, but over the past four years, a new trend has emerged — of Governors acting as if it's their prerogative." He added that this "disrespects the elected government" and is "against the philosophy of people's rule".

The Chief Minister also stated how the current practice tends to lead to "confusion" in the administration of universities. He also referenced the 2010 report on centre-state relations, submitted by a commission headed by former Chief Justice Madan Mohan Punchhi, and shared its recommendation that the Governor should be removed from the post of Chancellor of universities.