The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) has moved the Madras High Court seeking for a direction to consider its petition seeking to ensure adequate representation to SC/STs, women and minorities in the appointment of Vice-Chancellors and also to the Governing Council, Board of Management, Syndicate and Senate Committees in the 21 State-run universities.
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Chennai:
VCK President Thol Thirumavalavan had submitted in his plea that as per the constitutional provisions and population in Tamil Nadu, there must be at least five Vice-Chancellors from SC/ST community, seven women Vice-Chancellors and five Vice-Chancellors from different minority communities.
However, the provisions in favour of SC/ST community have not been accounted for the appointments of Vice-Chancellors or members for Governing Council, Board of Management, Syndicate and Senate Committee in the State-run universities, he said.
Thirumavalavan also noted that at present the appointments to these universities are being done according to the wish and will of the appointing authorities without following any norms of educational qualifications, social and economic status while there must be adequate representations as per population.
He further submitted that during the past three years, as many as nine vacancies of Vice-Chancellor posts, eight vacancies of Registrar posts and 10 vacancies of Controller of Examination post remain unfilled for untold reasons. Owing to these long pending vacancies, convocations have not been held in the said universities resulting in undergraduate and postgraduate being unable to proceed for further studies in India and abroad and seek for employment opportunities, he said.
The Constitutional guarantee and interests of SC/ST community are deliberately being neglected by the Department of Higher Education and University Grants Commission (UGC), he added.
A division bench, comprising Justices S Manikumar and Subramonium Prasad, observed that a uniform reservation policy ought to be followed in all the States and directed the State government to consider the representation within two months.
VCK President Thol Thirumavalavan had submitted in his plea that as per the constitutional provisions and population in Tamil Nadu, there must be at least five Vice-Chancellors from SC/ST community, seven women Vice-Chancellors and five Vice-Chancellors from different minority communities.
However, the provisions in favour of SC/ST community have not been accounted for the appointments of Vice-Chancellors or members for Governing Council, Board of Management, Syndicate and Senate Committee in the State-run universities, he said.
Thirumavalavan also noted that at present the appointments to these universities are being done according to the wish and will of the appointing authorities without following any norms of educational qualifications, social and economic status while there must be adequate representations as per population.
He further submitted that during the past three years, as many as nine vacancies of Vice-Chancellor posts, eight vacancies of Registrar posts and 10 vacancies of Controller of Examination post remain unfilled for untold reasons. Owing to these long pending vacancies, convocations have not been held in the said universities resulting in undergraduate and postgraduate being unable to proceed for further studies in India and abroad and seek for employment opportunities, he said.
The Constitutional guarantee and interests of SC/ST community are deliberately being neglected by the Department of Higher Education and University Grants Commission (UGC), he added.