Ghost staff: Anna Univ ex-VC suspended

Chennai: Anna University's former vice-chancellor, R Velraj, was suspended on Thursday, the day of his retirement, for granting affiliation to engineering colleges with ghost faculty members during his tenure in 2023-24. He had continued working as a professor in the mechanical engineering department at College of Engineering, Guindy, after completing his tenure as vice-chancellor in Aug 2024.The action was taken based on Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) charges against 11 officials, including Velraj, regarding the ghost faculty row. Sources said that while Governor R N Ravi, denied permission for a probe against Velraj a day before his retirement, state govt urgently convened a special syndicate meeting to take departmental action against him."It was decided to take action against Velraj as there are pending charges against him. He was heading the university when the irregularities of fake faculty members took place," said a syndicate member.Anti-corruption NGO Arappor Iyakkam, in July last year, exposed that 353 people were working in multiple engineering colleges during 2023-24. Following this, state govt formed a three-member committee headed by the then directorate of technical education commissioner, T Abraham, to look into the case. Anna University's internal probe also found that colleges' appointments to around 2,000 faculty positions for 2024-25 were fake.Govt, however, did not initiate action against these colleges. Anna University professors alleged that the action against Velraj was a vindictive one, as he was known to be close to Governor Ravi. Ravi hosted a farewell party for Velraj at Raj Bhavan when he completed his tenure as vice-chancellor last year. "More than 200 colleges and 600 faculty members were involved in the fake faculty racket. Several colleges owned by politicians were involved in the irregularities. Despite suggesting various actions, such as fines and suspension of affiliation to these colleges, state govt has not initiated any action. However, it took action only against the vice-chancellor, and that too on the day of his retirement," a professor from the university said. Another professor said Arappor Iyakkam was able to find the duplication of faculty members only because these details were published online by Anna University. Meanwhile, Arappor Iyakkam demanded the release of the full list of colleges involved in the racket to prevent students from joining them during counselling. The NGO is also planning to protest the inaction of govt on Saturday.