New law to keep varsities on government leash, say experts

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2014, introduced in the state assembly on Friday, appears to be another attempt by the government to enjoy more powers in the functioning of state universities as it includes provisions to remove vice-chancellors before their tenure ends, say academics. Through the proposed law, set to come into force in a week or two, the government is also trying to make state civil services rules and state government servants’ conduct rules applicable to university administration, they add.
Acts of 11 state universities and the Tamil Nadu teachers Education University Act, 2008 are set to come under the new law. Education experts said the latest move was an unfair attempt by the state government to give itself more control over state universities that are now autonomous in nature with their own acts and statutes.
Experts say the implementation of the bill would paralyse the academic system in state universities which is already politicized. “Imagine the fate of a vice-chancellor who is forced to run a university at the mercy of a state government,” said a former higher education secretary to the government. He said the bill would also set a bad precedent of a government sacking VCs appointed by its predecessor. A senior official in the higher education department said the bill was unlikely to find any legal ground as it was earlier proven that the state could not bring in a blanket act to control universities. “Amending or making changes in the acts of the University of Madras by a state legislation may not be valid as it was created by Parliament along with University of Calcutta and Mumbai University. In fact this is the third attempt by the state government to introduce such a bill after previous AIADMK and DMK governments dropped similar plans after considering legal hurdles,” he said. Former syndicate member and retired professor of University of Madras M Micheal Aruldhas said he was not against the removal of a corrupt VC. “But this is to bring entire universities under the control of the government and the ruling party. Instead of making repeated efforts to bring a blanket rule, it would be great if the government could appoint VCs who are not corrupt, without criminal backgrounds,” he said.