Balagurusamy urges Governor, CM to make temporary compromise on V-C appointments

Chennai: Anna University former vice-chancellor E Balagurusamy on Saturday urged both Governor Vishwanath Arlekar and chief minister Joseph Vijay to consider arriving at a temporary and pragmatic compromise on the appointment of vice-chancellors to state universities without prejudice to the pending court proceedings.As many as 16 state universities out of 22 have been functioning without vice-chancellors for a period of up to three years due to the tussle between the Governor and the state govt on including the UGC nominee in the V-C search committees.“The prolonged absence of regular vice-chancellors has already begun to seriously impair the functioning of our universities, including administrative paralysis, delayed academic decisions, stalled faculty recruitment, uncertainty in financial governance.

More importantly, students who are entirely removed from this institutional dispute are bearing the consequences,” Balagurusamy said in his letter.“With respect to both constitutional officers, I wish to submit that universities cannot remain hostages to an unresolved standoff. Allowing them to drift in a state of uncertainty would risk long-term institutional damage that may not be easily reversible,” he further said.

He suggested using the existing university acts and established conventions to appoint V-Cs on an interim or regular basis subject to the final outcome of judicial review as one possible path forward.“This would restore academic, administrative stability, protect the interests of students and faculty and will demonstrate statesmanship and constitutional maturity,” the former V-C said.He further said both the offices would rise to the occasion and take immediate steps to ensure that Tamil Nadu’s universities function with dignity, leadership and purpose.