Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi. File | Image Source: SR Raghunathan
Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi called on private, central and state universities vice presidents to attend a meeting to be held on Friday (25 April 2025), sparking heated discussions among the academicians.
The meeting will be unveiled by Udhagamandalam Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar. But what surprised the academician was the timing: it was held just a week after Chief Minister MK Stalin presided over the meeting, who could now appoint vice presidents of state-owned universities after a recent Supreme Court ruling.The Supreme Court declared that the governor of Tamil Nadu had long refused to agree to 10 bills, which was illegal and legally wrong.
Given these developments, it remains to be seen whether state VCs will attend the meeting. Of the 22 universities, 12 do not have VCs. The state higher education department rejected the governor’s persistence in nominating the University Grants Committee (UGC) chairperson in the university’s VC search team.
Currently, a convener committee is not led by the university by VC. The Minister of Higher Education is the convener of many universities. It is not clear whether the secretary or his representative will attend the meeting.
“The governor is still in the prime minister”
Former venture capital firms at Madras Sp Thyagarajan said it was unclear whether the governor had been deprived of all power from the minister. “The Governor, who was conferred by the Constitution, remains the Prime Minister. He has the right to nominate members to the group,” he said.
This is a tricky situation for V-CS. He added that they were appointed prime minister by the governor and had to attend the meeting. “They will be embarrassed and worried about how the government accepts it. It’s an administrative embarrassment. Given the governor’s original constitutional power, they also face moral embarrassment,” said Professor Thyagarajan.
The role of the Prime Minister includes reviewing the maintenance and maintenance of academic standards at the university. The Prime Minister must address the Chief Minister’s administrative and financial difficulties and issues such as rising standards as state governments are funding sales. The governor also played a role in issues related to discipline. Professor Thyagarajan explained that he has the right to terminate the services of the wrong person based on the government’s recommendations.
“At the intersection”
E. Balagurusamy, a former venture capital firm at Anna University, said that as prime minister of state universities, the governor has the right to “discuss all matters related to higher education in Tamil Nadu and guide them (universities) to implement the measures necessary to improve the quality of university education and university research.”
He said the recent SC ruling was “very unfortunate, which puts the university in Tamil Nadu at a crossroads.” The ruling has authorized the state government to appoint V-CS, but it does not prevent the governor from serving as prime minister. “This situation has indeed caused a conflict of power between the two authorities,” he noted.
The former venture capital of the University of Madras in its recent interaction with V-CS, which was disappointing that the Chief Minister did not address two pressing issues facing the national university. The university has not yet recruited for the past 15 years. He said the Madras University group had seven officials from the government who allowed the glide issue to lead to audit objections and rejection of funds.
Meanwhile, Raj Bhavan clarified on the afternoon of Wednesday (23 April 2025) that the meeting was necessary and that the meeting had been operating on the island until four years ago to detrimental to students. A communiqué said the Prime Minister’s Office was preparing for the meeting for several months with the aim of achieving excellence in teaching, learning, innovation and business.
publishing – April 23, 2025 at 4:08 pm IST
