Five-member committee formed by HC to scrutinise 68 faculty appointments by BU, to submit report in three months

The High Court, on a writ filed by 10 petitioners consisting of BU faculty, formed the five-member committee factoring in their lack of confidence in the panel formed by the university

A five-member committee constituted recently by the Madras High Court to scrutinise 68 regular faculty appointments made in Bharathiar University during 2016 has been tasked with the responsibility of submitting its report to the Vice-Chancellor committee within three months.

Scrutiny based on the UGC Regulations 2016 has been mandated for the committee consisting of two associate professors — D. Sathiyavan (Economics) and K. Sathyanarayan (Management Studies) from the University of Madras; two assistant professors — R. Venkatesh from Anna Centre for Public Affairs and T.M. Sridhar (Analytical Chemistry) also from the University of Madras, and professor Sangamithra (Economics) from the Bharathiar University.

The BU had earlier constituted its four-member committee for the same purpose during June 2024, on the directions of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption. But, the university had specified the scrutiny on the basis of UGC 2010 Regulations and 2013 amendments.

The High Court, on a writ filed by 10 petitioners consisting of BU faculty, formed the five-member committee factoring in their lack of confidence in the panel formed by the university.

The standpoint of the petitioners was that appointments were made in contravention of the UGC regulations that had come into effect on July 11, 2016, while the reasoning of BU was that the process of filling the vacancies was done before the UGC 2016 regulations came into force, and that only after completion of the appointment process, the Syndicate had adopted the latest regulations.

The moment the 2016 UGC regulations came into force on July 11, 2016, and it was also adopted by the Syndicate, the appointments must be tested only on that basis, the High Court order said.

Further, in his proceedings dated January 19, 2017, the first respondent (the then Vice-Chancellor A. Ganapathy who was arrested by DVAC for making the appointments in lieu of bribes), had stated that appointments had been made as per UGC norms under the UGC regulations issued through Notification dated July 11, 2016.

Directing the five-member Committee to submit the report before three months, the High Court order said further course can be decided based on it.

Published - November 04, 2024 09:11 pm IST