The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday passed two bills that seek to transfer the power of appointing vice-chancellor to state-funded universities from Governor R N Ravi to the state government, amid a full-blown tussle between the DMK dispensation and the Raj Bhavan over exemption from NEET.
The move by the M K Stalin-led government to amend two laws came on the day Ravi inaugurated a two-day conference of Vice-Chancellors of state, Central and private universities of the state in the picturesque Nilgiris district, apparently not taking the state government into confidence.
The amended laws seek to transfer the powers of appointing VCs to 13 state-owned universities from the Governor to the state government. Both the bills cited the Gujarat University Act, 1949, Telangana Universities Act, 1991 and Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000 to drive home the point that the state government should be empowered to appoint VCs of state universities.
As principal opposition AIADMK and BJP opposed the Bill, Stalin cited the example of Gujarat, ruled by the BJP for decades together, where the state government appoints VCs and not the Governor. While BJP staged a walkout, the AIADMK, which passed two bills that allow the state government to appoint VCs to two newly-formed universities, said it was opposing the legislation at their “introduction stage.”
The move by the government comes amid its confrontation with Ravi over a slew of issues – as many as nine bills are pending with the governor and if one includes the two passed today, the number will be 11. According to the bills, the state government will constitute a three-member committee to search for VCs and appoint them, instead of the governor.
Recalling the observations of the Punchhi Commission on Centre-State relations that "there would be a clash of functions and powers" if the authority to choose the top academician was wrested with the Governor, Stalin said VCs in Telangana, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat are appointed by the state governments.
"A government elected by the people being unable to appoint vice-chancellor to a university-run by it creates a lot of issues in the overall varsity administration. This is against the democratic principles," Stalin said in his speech in the Assembly.
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