Court stays Madras university history prof appointment

CHENNAI: In what could be another controversy over irregularities in appointments at University of Madras, the Madras high court has issued an interim stay against appointment to the post of professor in the Indian History department till further orders.
The order was issued on December 4 on a writ petition filed by S Kuppusamy, assistant professor of Indian History, saying the university had issued a notification for the vacant post in violation of academic norms.The notification had called applications for filling 21 professor posts, including in Indian History, and slated interviews for December 19 and 20.
“The court issued the order after finding merit in our petition citing that promotion of my client has been illegally withheld and the university had gone ahead and called for interview to fill up the professor post bypassing his seniority and eligibility as per Section 25 of the Madras University Act,” said S Arokia Maniraj, counsel for Kuppusamy.
According to S Kuppusamy, he joined the Indian History department as an assistant professor in 2000 and was not given any promotion till now as per UGC norm and the Madras University Act. The university then notified a vacant professor post in the department to supersede his seniority, he alleged. “I was being deliberately targeted and was prevented from becoming head of the department despite being the senior most faculty member,” said Kuppusamy.