Bills only seek to take away Governor’s power to appoint V-Cs

Gov. R.N. Ravi withheld consent on Bills to replace Gov. as Chancellor of univs. except Siddha Medical Univ. Bill, which seeks to replace Gov. with CM as Chancellor. CM is already Chancellor of Music & Fine Arts Univ. Bills seek to take away Gov's power to appoint V-Cs & give it to State govt. CM wants CM to be Chancellor of all univs.

Contrary to the popular perception that the Bills, re-adopted by the Assembly last week, stand for replacing Governor with Chief Minister as Chancellor, perusing the text of the Bills reveals that they do not disturb the status of Governor as Chancellor. 

The Bills only seek to take away the power of the Governor with regard to appointment of Vice-Chancellors (V-Cs) and give it to the State government. In this regard, the expression “Governor” is substituted by the term, “government.” Through a new section, the Bills state that V-Cs can be removed only by the order of the government, apart from laying down the procedure for V-Cs’ removal.

The pieces of legislation cover Universities of Madurai-Kamaraj, Anna, Bharathiar, Bharatidasan, Mother Teresa, Alagappa, Manomaniam Sundaranar, Periyar, Open, Thiruvalluvar, Teachers Education, Annamalai, Dr Ambedkar Law, Dr MGR Medical, Agricultural, Tamil, Veterinary and Animal Sciences, and Fisheries.  In respect of Bills for all these institutions, Governor R.N. Ravi withheld his consent on November 13.  

In addition, there is one Bill concerning the Chennai University which has also been drafted on similar lines.  This Bill, reserved for the assent of President Droupadi Murmu, was sent to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on November 10. 

However, it is the Siddha Medical University Bill that has sought to replace the Governor with the Chief Minister as Chancellor. This Bill, sent to the present Governor in May 2022, was reserved for Presidential assent this month and sent to the MHA on November 14. The Bill, proposing the establishment of a university for different branches of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy, has clothed the Chancellor with the power of V-C appointment. 

At present, the Chief Minister is the Chancellor only of the Music and Fine Arts University. Established through an Act of Legislature in November 2013, the varsity has been named after former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, who was at the helm of affairs when the institution was created.  Recently, addressing the convocation of the University, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin wanted CM to be made Chancellor of the universities.