CHENNAI: In a rebuttal that revives the battle between the DMK government and the Raj Bhavan, the Tamil Nadu government has announced the formation of a new search-cum-select committee to select the Vice-Chancellor for the University of Madras, omitting the UGC nominee recommended by the Governor.

“Battu Satyanarayana as Chancellor’s nominee, K Deenabandu as syndicate nominee and P Jagadeesan and senate nominee have been appointed as members of the search committee under sub-section (2) of Section 11 of the Madras University Act, 1923 to recommend a panel of three persons to the Governor-Chancellor for appointment as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Madras. The committee shall recommend a panel of three names along with their bio-data to the Governor-Chancellor of the University of Madras,” stated a gazette notification issued by the government.

This comes after the Governor-Chancellor constituted a four-member panel including the UGC Chairman’s nominee.

However, the UGC Chairman’s nominee HCS Rathore was excluded from the searchpanel by the State government.

Former Higher Education minister KP Anbazhagan said neither the Governor nor the State government must follow the University Act as such.

“There are 13 State varsities and each has its own Act. The search-cum-select panel should be constituted under the respective University Act. The addition of a UGC nominee by the Governor is unprecedented,” he said.

Anna University ex-VC Kalanidhi said the government and Governor should avoid ‘chaos’ in matters of education. “It is wrong for the Governor to act unilaterally. The government amending the Governor’s order is also incorrect,” he said.