V-C search panel set up for two varsities

The State Government has constituted two search committees to recommend three suitable candidates each for the post of Vice Chancellor of the Periyar University in Salem and the Bharathidasan University in Tiruchi. The post had been lying vacant in the two universities for over three-and-a-half months.

In respect of the Periyar University, C. Swaminathan laid down the post of Vice Chancellor on June 15, and in the case of Bharathidasan University, V.M. Muthu Kumar demitted office on June 12.

An order issued on Wednesday stated that T.S. Sridhar, former Additional Chief Secretary, had been made the government nominee and the committee’s convener. R. Manian, former professor, Zonal Research Centre of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, is the nominee of the Senate and M.N. Ponnusamy, former professor, Crystallography and Biophysics, Madras University, is the nominee of the Syndicate.

As for the Bharatidasan University, Santha Sheela Nair, former Vice-Chairperson of the State Planning Commission, had been named the government nominee and convener. R. Venakataratnam, former senior professor and head of sociology, Madurai Kamaraj University, would be the nominee of the Senate, and S. Sivasubramanian, chairman of the Centre for Advanced Research and Development, Vels University, Chennai, will be the nominee of the Syndicate.

As per the amended laws governing the two universities, the search committees are required to make their recommendation within four months of their constitution: by February 3, 2018. Each committee will suggest a panel of three persons for the post. In the event of the committees not being able to finish their task within the stipulated period, the Governor-Chancellor may grant further time to them to submit their recommendation or take steps to have fresh committees.

According to the new legal provision which came into force on May 27, the search committees should be set up at least four months before the probable date of occurrence of vacancy. In the given instances, only two weeks before the vacancy arose, the laws got amended. Also, it took considerable amount of time for the government to finalise its nominees

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/vice-chancellor-search-panel-set-up-for-two-universities/article19804683.ece