TN amends notification, replaces Guv with State
Fortnight after forming search panels, state sets Aug 13 deadline to recommend vice-chancellors for 4 varsities
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CHENNAI: Armed with the stamp of approval of the Supreme Court that assented its 10 bills under Article 142 of the Constitution, the state Higher Education Department has notified amendments to its earlier orders and announced the replacement of the 'governor' with the ‘state government’ for the process of the appointment of vice-chancellors for state universities.
The state government has also extended the deadline for the search committee to recommend a list of three names for Anna University and three other universities in the state by August 13, 2025.
According to separate GOs issued by C Samayamoorthy, secretary of government, state higher education department on May 13, the expression ‘Governor-Chancellor’ will be 'omitted' and replaced with ‘Government’ in relevant sections of four earlier higher education notifications related to the appointment of V-Cs to Anna University, Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University and Annamalai University.
Consequent upon the amendment to the Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Act, 2022, the higher education secretary, in his May 13 order, also issued orders to grant time to the search committees till August 13, 2025, to recommend a panel of three names to the state government for the appointment of the next vice-chancellor for Anna University, Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University and Annamalai University.
Originally, the department notified the constitution of the search committees for recommending three names for appointment of V-Cs for Madurai Kamaraj University (2025), TamilNadu Teacher's Education University (2022), Annamalai University (2024) and Anna University (2024). Following the amendments to the Universities laws, which was approved by the apex court, the government granted additional time to the search committees to recommend the mandatory three names for appointment of the next V-Cs.
In the case of Anna University notification, the amendment also provided for substituting the expression ‘Chancellor's nominee/convener’ with ‘chancellor's nominee/member’ in the 2024 notification related to the constitution of the search committee.
The amendment to the notification has been published less than a fortnight after the state constituted search panels for appointing V-Cs to five universities, more so after the Governor insisted on a UGC nominee on the panel.
