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7 MKU Syndicate members to quit from committees

Seven Syndicate members of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) here on Sunday decided to resign from various sub-committees formed by Vice-Chancellor Kalyani Mathivanan. They will hand over their resignations in the VC office on Monday.

Their decision comes in the wake of the Vice-Chancellor on Saturday removing Syndicate member M. Rajarajan from all sub-committees as he openly questioned certain incidents on the varsity campus.

The tussle between the Vice-Chancellor and the Syndicate members now looks to become a full-fledged battle.

There has been uneasy calm on the university campus ever since the Madras High Court Bench had set aside the Vice-Chancellor’s appointment on June 26 which was subsequently stayed by the Supreme Court for a period of six weeks.

“We have prepared our resignation letters to step down from the sub-committees. The next course of action will be decided in a couple of days,” Dr. Rajarajan told The Hindu on Sunday after a meeting with his Syndicate colleagues.

The university has several sub-committees comprising Syndicate members to deal with issues relating to appointments, establishment, research, hostels, finance and disciplinary action among other things.

Dr. Rajarajan said he received a registered post and an e-mail from the Vice-Chancellor informing him that he was relieved of the responsibilities as member of sub-committees.

“The happenings in the university in the past two weeks are causing a lot of concern. I was removed form the committees as I aired by opinion publicly and differed with the Vice-Chancellor,” he added.

Syndicate members who are stepping down from the university committees are Dr. Rajarajan, R. Kannan, V. Venkataraman, K. Selvakumar, Murali Pakshirajan, K. Pitchumani and P. Periakaruppan.

“In the last one week, there was no communication between us and the Vice-Chancellor. We are hoping that the Governor will intervene. It is sad that Dr. Kalyani Mathivanan is being ill-advised by the coterie around her,” two senior Syndicate members lamented.

They also regretted that unilateral decisions were taken in the absence of Syndicate members.