CHENNAI: Many faculty members and professors from Madras University were discontented with the move to redeploy the 14 staff members from Annamalai University to Madras University, citing various reasons including that it will affect the rule of reservation in appointments. The syndicate of the University of Madras has given its consent to redeploying teaching staff from Annamalai University to Madras University after prolonged discussion on Thursday. As per the move, 14 staff members will be temporarily transferred to various departments including management, zoology, and sociology.
“All the staff members in the university were appointed as per the UGC guidelines. But the same cannot be said of the Annamalai University. It will also affect the rule of the reservation being followed in the university departments,” a senior faculty member of the university said. “University is following the 200 point roster for appointments. Each department is being considered as a separate unit for recruitment. These transfers will distort the reservation structures of the departments,” he added.
A section of professors rejected the claim of university administration that it was only a temporary arrangement. “There is no guarantee that they will return to their parent university after three years,” they argued. “There is no provision in the university statutes for transferring staff from another university to Madras University. There is only one way to become the faculty in the department that is through the open competition,” they stressed.
A teaching faculty has to clear at least four rounds of interview before being promoted to a professor in the university. “We doubt whether these staffs had cleared any interview for the job as there were allegations of rampant corruption in appointments at Annamalai University,” a professor said. “The redeployment was included in the agenda at the last minute as table item. Since it required the lot of clarifications, many members wanted to defer the issue to the next syndicate meeting. But the vice-chancellor and higher education secretary insisted to take a decision immediately. Except for a few members, others have accepted the government order,” sources said.
“University is in a major financial crisis with a debt of Rs.120 crore. Given the financial crisis, the university is highly dependent on the state government to pay the salary to the staff members. Opposing the government order will risk the university losing its funds and as a consequences university may not be able to pay the staff salary. Keeping this in mind many members have accepted the government order,” a syndicate member explained.
