After 5-month gap, governor appoints MKU vice-chancellor

CHENNAI: A few days after appointing Dr Sudha Seshayyan as the new Dr MGR University vice-chancellor, governor and chancellor Banwarilal Purohit appointed M Krishnan as the vice chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University.

“Purohit has appointed Krishnan as vice chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University for a period of three years with effect from the date of his assumption of office. Krishnan is endowed with rich experience. He was head of environmental biotechnology in Bharathidasan University and a professor of the Central University in Ajmer, Rajasthan,” said a press release from Raj Bhavan.

The VC vacancy arose after the Madras high court in July set aside the appointment of P P Chellathurai as the vice-chancellor of the university. The high court set aside the appointment on the ground that the proceedings of the search committee were flawed without expressing any opinion on eligibility and noticing Chellathurai has been dropped from the criminal case after investigation. “Krishnan has been a fellow of Royal Entomological Society, London, Society for Science and Environment, India, a Commonwealth Fellow, UK and of Japan Prize Foundation. He has a teaching experience of 28 years and is a visiting professor of various universities such as the Okayama University of Science, Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Biomedicine, Helsinki and University of Exeter, University of Edinburgh, Scotland,” read the press release.

He has presented 128 research papers in international conferences, published 60 research articles in UGC listed journals and authored two books in the field of molecular biology, the release said.