Member nominated to Anna University VC search panel upheld

The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar before whom a PIL filed by Students Federation of India (SFI) assailing Padmanabhan’s inclusion as illegal, said, “We find no illegality in the appointment of former IIT(Kanpur) director Anantha Padmanabhan as a member of the Search Committee.”

Setting aside the contentions of the petitioner’s counsel L Parvin Banu that Padmanabhan was holding the post of professor of eminence in the university when he was nominated as a committee member, which is against the University bye-laws, the bench said, “He has resigned from the post of professor of eminence before being nominated to the search committee. The research supervisor post is a post without any remuneration.”

On Tuesday, the bench raised doubts about the authenticity of the resignation letter of Padmanabhan, as the court found two such letters in the case brief, one with an official stamp and other on a plain paper.

However, when the PIL was taken up for hearing on Wednesday, advocate general Vijay Narayan produced the original copies of the letter. After perusing the document, the bench expressed satisfaction over its authenticity.