The appointment of M.K. Surappa, a Kannadiga, as vice-chancellor of Tamil Nadu’s prestigious Anna University has triggered a serious controversy in the state. It has drawn the ire of the opposition parties and also academicians. The post has been filled after a long gap of two years, following the exit of its former vice-chancellor in May 2016.
The appointment was made on Thursday by Governor Banwarilal Purohit. A former director of IIT-Ropar, Surappa was appointed as the vice-chancellor of Anna University for a period of three years.
Surappa will serve as vice-chancellor, administering more than 240 colleges affiliated to Anna University.
Surappa had served as director of IIT-Ropar for six years from 2009 to 2015. Holding a doctorate in metallurgical engineering, Surappa has teaching experience of more than 30 years. Of these 30 years, he had spent 24 years in the Indian Institute of Science. A fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, Surappa has around 150 research publications to his name.
Surappa’s appointment has come under attack, with opponents saying the BJP and the governor are trying to saffronise the educational institutions in the state. In a strongly worded statement, PMK leader Dr S. Ramadoss, attacked the governor for appointing “a corrupt” Surappa as the vice-chancellor.
“The appointment of Surappa is atrocious and the claim of Raj Bhavan that due process was followed is a façade,” Ramadoss said, adding Surappa’s stint at IIT was mired in controversy and he was an “irregular and a paper pusher.”
Ramadoss also alleged that Surappa faced charges of plagiarism and had a poor relationship with his subordinates. “Due to his delayed decisions, construction cost at Punjab IIT rose to Rs. 1,958 crore from Rs. 760 crore,” Ramadoss charged.
In a Facebook post, DMK working president M.K. Stalin said, “At a time when the Cauvery water issue was raging, the appointment of Surappa was not acceptable. Do not saffronise Tamil Nadu universities by importing vice-chancellors from outside while insulting the sons of the soil.”
In a tweet, Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan, remarked “We are asking for Cauvery from Karnataka. But you have got a Kannadiga for our Anna University.”
While the opposition parties allege saffronising of the educational institutions, the ruling AIADMK and the BJP defended the appointment. “There is no saffronising in this. He was appointed based on the suggestions given by the search committee,” said BJP’s Tamil Nadu president Tamilisai Soundararajan.
“The appointment was made based on the reports given by the search committee. Governor has done this within the purview. The state government is in no way linked to this,” clarified Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar, who was part of a team led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisamy that called on Purohit immediately after the latter’s return from Delhi. Sources say the governor summoned opposition leader M.K. Stalin a week before and the chief minister on Tuesday only to discuss the appointments of vice-chancellors to various universities.
Sources clarify that Purohit had briefed Stalin on how Surya Narayana Sastry was appointed as vice-chancellor of Dr Ambedkar Law University and how all procedures were completely followed. Stalin had earlier questioned the appointment of Sastry as the vice-chancellor, saying the latter never figured in the list of names suggested by the search committee. Palanisamy and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam also met the governor, who is expected to appoint other vice-chancellors in the near future.
The appointment of Surappa comes at a time when the universities in the state have come under attack because of corruption charges and controversies in the past year: the arrest of the vice-chancellor of Bharathiar University, the corruption charges in Anna University saying several crores were swindled, the controversy over the appointment of Prameela Gurumurthy as the vice-chancellor of Music University that was opposed by singer Pushpavanam Kuppusamy and the suicide of Salem Periyar University registrar K. Angamuthu, by consuming poison on December 18.
Apparently, the search committee constituted for suggesting a vice-chancellor to the prestigious Alagappa University has also triggered controversy. The present vice-chancellor of Alagappa University is due to demit office in June 2018. Now, a search committee has been formed by the governor and its chairman is Narasimha Reddy, whose tenure in the Patna High Court as chief justice was mired in controversies.
It is an open secret that Justice Dharnidhar Jha of the Patna HC called his chief as the “Mughal Baadshah” and refused to attend a retirement farewell function to honour Reddy. Jha in a open letter cited various incidents of malpractice, corruption and whimsical behaviour. “It is very surprising as to why the governor has chosen such a controversial person as chairman while there are numerous other academicians and fine judges. The influence of the governor has become so rabid that he had influenced the senate of Alagappa University to select one M.R. Venugopal Rao from Krishnadevaraya University in Anantapur,” alleges blogger A Shankar, who has been continuously exposing malpractices in these appointments.
The creation of the search committee to Alagappa University itself clearly shows, rather than finding a right candidate, an ulterior motive is involved. “It is a dangerous trend. It will have serious consequences and the act of the governor has come under severe attack,” says journalist R. Mani.
More than the appointments, the governor’s involvement in administrative matters has come under attack.
“Though the statutes and the rules say that the governor is the authority to appoint the vice-chancellor, the spirit of the law must be adhered to,” adds Mani. The governor should have consulted the state government before appointing any vice-chancellor, he reasoned. “But just taking few lines here and there, the BJP is justifying the appointment. It is not the printed letters of the Indian Constitution that should be followed, but it is the spirit of the printed lines, which ought to be followed. It is yet another serious assault on the federal structure of the country and parliamentary democracy,” Mani says.
In fact, the governor’s move to appoint Sastry to the Law University and Surappa to Anna University is seen as BJP’s intrusion into the system in Tamil Nadu.
“Apart from the rumblings in the chairmanship in these search committees and appointment of vice-chancellor, the BJP is trying to saffronise education in full swing,” alleges Shankar. Teachers Day, which used to be celebrated on September 5 every year, has now been renamed as Guru Utsav. Also, more and more CBSE schools are cropping up all over the state. In these schools, children now have an option not to study Tamil at all.
Recently, the CBSE had removed German, which was the optional language in the syllabus and introduced Sanskrit. “The action of Governor Purohit on appointing Surappa as vice-chancellor of Anna University on a day when Tamil Nadu was witnessing historic protests for establishing of Cauvery Management Board shows the autocratic attitude and the scant regard the BJP and governor hold for Tamil Nadu,” adds Shankar,
Tamil Nadu has fine academicians and fine engineers and produces several thousand engineers every year and more than 95 per cent jobs are secured through campus placements. Such being the case, the issue in the minds of politicians and like-minded people is “Why the governor was not able to find even a single person to head the Anna University is very surprising.” The political parties and academicians have also demanded that the governor immediately publish a white paper as to who all applied for the post of vice-chancellor and how Surappa was finally chosen.