V-C search panels told to file report to govt, not governor

IN first such orders issued for state universities under higher education department, the search panels constituted to choose vice-chancellors for four universities have been mandated to submit their recommendations to the state government and not the Governor-Chancellor as has been the practice so far.

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The Tuesday notification, issued after the landmark verdict of the Supreme Court regarding assent to bills that allowed Tamil Nadu government instead of the governor to appoint vice-chancellors, also extends the tenure of these search panels appointed earlier to August 13, 2025.

The four universities are Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University (TNTEU), Annamalai University (ANU), Anna University (AU) and Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU). Though three-member search panels were constituted and notified for these universities on October 19, 2022, December 9, 2024, December 13, 2024, and January 10, 2025, respectively, these committees could not complete their work due to the tussle between Governor R N Ravi and the state government with the governor insisting on the inclusion of a nominee of UGC chairperson as the fourth member in each of these search panels.