Chennai, Aug 11 (IANS) Expelled AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister, O. Panneerselvam (OPS), called upon the Tamil Nadu government to “consult with the Governor” and fill the posts of Vice-Chancellors (V-Cs) in state-run universities, in the interest of students.

The posts of V-Cs of four state-run universities - University of Madras, Bharathiar University, Madurai Kamaraj University and Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University - remained vacant for several months now while the Vice Chancellor of Anna University, R. Velraj, completed his tenure on Saturday.

In a statement on Sunday, Panneerselvam referred to a case pending before the Supreme Court of India over the inclusion of a representative of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in the Search Committee to pick V-Cs and urged the government for speedy completion of the court proceedings.

He charged that ever since the DMK government assumed office in Tamil Nadu in May 2021, the state-run universities faced a severe financial crunch and could not appoint teachers or pay them salaries and could not conduct examinations on time.

Panneerselvam pointed out that as there was an issue over including a representative of the University Grants Commission in the Search Committee, a panel headed by the Secretary of the Higher Education Department was heading the administration of these universities without V-Cs.

The former Chief Minister said that if this situation continues, a scenario would arise when there would be no V-Cs for many of the universities.

He called upon the state government to understand the significance and importance of a Vice Chancellor for a University and stated that the Tamil Nadu government had the responsibility and duty to appoint V-Cs for these institutions.