Consultations with Governor ongoing to arrive at agreement over V-C appointment: Higher Education Minister

Even as the issue of Vice-Chancellor appointment is caught up in litigation, the government is in constant touch with the Governor to iron out the differences and find a common ground, Higher Education Minister P. Viswanathan said on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters at a National Education and Urdu Day Celebration organised by the Tamil Nadu Urdu Academy at the University of Madras, Mr. Viswanathan said that besides him, the School Education Minister and the Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker also have met the Governor and held talks about appointment of Vice-Chancellors to the State-run universities.

“Just last week, School Education Minister Rajmohan, the Honourable Speaker and I met the Governor. Consultations are going on and some agreements are being reached. We will be able to speak openly once things finalise. We will be meeting him again in a week’s time,” he maintained.

As a stop-gap arrangement, senior professors have been appointed as Vice-Chancellors in-charge in Alagappa, Annamalai, and Manonmaniam Sundaranar Universities. “The Chancellor, the Chief Minister, and the Pro-Chancellor” all want a solution to the problem soon, he added.

Commenting on the first six months of the current government, he said that his Department had taken steps to solve issues pending for a long time, like extending the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) to teachers of government-aided colleges. “They had protested at least 52 times over the past five years,” he pointed out.

The government had also increased the honorarium of guest lecturers by ₹5,000 and has announced the implementation of free laptop scheme for college students at a cost of ₹2,000 crore.

He gave away awards and prizes to 23 teachers working in Urdu medium schools for 30 years, 10 Urdu poets and authors, and 627 students from 19 colleges and 39 schools who won various competitions like essay writing, elocution, and poetry. The Minister also assured the gathering that he would take their demand of a teachers’ training centre for Urdu teachers to the Chief Minister.

Present on the occasion were K. Navas Kani, MP and Chairman, Tamil Nadu Waqf Board, K.A.M. Muhammed Abubacker, former MLA and State General Secretary of IUML, Rita John, Registrar, UoM, and S. Armstrong, Member, Vice-Chancellor Convener Committee.