UGC rules don’t apply to VCs, TN tells HC

Chennai: Tamil Nadu higher education department on Thursday informed Madras high court that a vice-chancellor (VC) of a university is not a teaching staff and, therefore, UGC Regulations 2018 would not apply to them."The chancellor, VC are all officers of the university and, therefore, shifting the powers of appointment from the chancellor to the state govt on administrative convenience cannot be termed to be in conflict with the UGC Regulations," said the department, represented by senior advocate P Wilson.The state legislature, which originally empowered the chancellor with the power of appointment, decided to vest such power with the state govt itself, and this cannot by any stretch of imagination be termed as conflict with the UGC Regulations, the department said through a counter affidavit filed in response to a PIL challenging the amendments made to 10 state university legislations.The amendments empowered the state govt to appoint VCs to the universities instead of the governor. During the 2025 Christmas holidays, a vacation bench of the HC stayed the operation of the amendments on the PIL moved by advocate K Venkatachalapathy, which was subsequently reversed by the Supreme Court. The PIL was remitted back to the HC for hearing after providing adequate opportunity for the state to respond.On Thursday, when the plea came up for hearing before the first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan, the department filed its counter. Taking the counter on record, the bench adjourned the hearing to April 9.According to the department, Entry 32 of List II of the Constitution places the state with the sole legislative competence over the matters of incorporation, regulation and winding up of universities. The scope of this entry cannot be restricted to just the establishment of a university since the state govt, which has invested its resources out of the public exchequer, must also have the power to administer or regulate the universities.