Chennai: The office of the vice-chancellor of the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (Tanuvas) appears to be on a collision course with the government on the issue of recruitment of staff amid widespread allegations of large-scale corruption in the ‘hurried’ recruitment process.
At the centre of the controversy is the university vice-chancellor Dr S. Thilagar, a veterinarian who rose from the teaching ranks to occupy the top chair at the premier veterinary institution that attracts many foreign students and where significant research programmes have been in progress. The VC has launched an elaborate process of recruitment across grades and departments, despite clear instructions from the government to refrain from any such acts.
VC Thilagar is due to retired end of this year.
In his letter dated May 11 (2017), principal secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi in the animal husbandry department directed the registrar and vice-chancellor of Tanuvas to “refrain from taking policy decisions, especially relating to recruitment of staff during the last three months tenure of the vice-chancellor or until further instructions from the government”.
The senior IAS officer, known for his professional competence and personal integrity, also sought details of the recruitment of staff done in the last six months “immediately, so as to furnish a report to the Governor’s secretariat”.
Reliable sources said Mr Bedi has been upset that Dr Thilagar is going ahead with his recruitment ‘drive’ despite the government directive. He has chosen to ignore the rider in that directive—“…until further instructions from the government”—as following it would mean halting the recruitments right away and that contradicts the first part of the government directive that prohibited recruitments during the last six months of his VC tenure and he is retiring only end of the year, which meant he could take such policy decision and indulge in recruitments till the start of July.
Such arithmetic and ambiguity apart, the government restrictions on Dr Thilagar, as well as all the VCs of government-run universities, appear to be the result of serious complaints of large-scale allegations of corruption in recruitments and other operations in these higher education institutions.
Upset over complaints piling up at his office in the Raj Bhavan regarding high-corruption indulged by many vice-chancellors, Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao reportedly asked the government to probe and report to him. Mr Bedi’s missive to Tanuvas was inspired by the Governor’s directive, sources said.
It may be recalled that Dr S. Geethalakshmi, vice-chancellor of Dr MGR Medical University, was raided by the income tax department early April and an investigation is reportedly on.
Coming back to Dr Thilagar, he has now launched the process to recruit 49 assistant professors and 83 non-teaching staff. The tests and interviews have already been completed in the case of some of these positions. “There has been some deviations from the guidelines prescribed by the University Grants Commission (UGC), particularly in ensuring transparency and in adhering to the reservation policy”, said Dr S. Balaji Murugesan, coordinator, Tamil Nadu State Veterinary Graduates’ Federation. He has sent his complaint to Governor Rao.
