Thiruvalluvar varsity PG notification quashed for ignoring Jayalalithaa Univ

When the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu was hearing the PIL moved by former law minister C Ve Shanmugam, his counsel senior counsel Vijay Narayan said the Higher Education Secretary relied on tweets to justify the case of repealing the Act creating Dr Jayalalithaa varsity. The bench led by Chief Justice Banerjee said this was only indicative of the need to behave like matured adults. 

“One party could have gone but the law has to be followed; at the same time what has been done cannot be undone,” the Chief Justice added. 

“There is no doubt that the State Legislature has equal authority within its executive domain to either enact an Act or repeal it. There is equally no doubt that the present government may intend to replace the Act 5 of 2021 and has issued a notification indicating such intention. But till such time a law in place and its operation has not been stayed, the provision of such law need to be followed,” the bench said. 

Hence, it added, the admission notification issued by Thiruvalluvar University inviting applications to PG courses at its extension centre in Villupuram was done with no jurisdiction in the matter, the bench held. 

The GO issued in this regard had said: “The government had decided that it would be more purposeful if Annamalai University could be converted into an affiliating university with jurisdiction over Villupuram, Cuddalore, Kallakurichi and Mayiladuthurai districts by amending the Annamalai University Act of 2013 and repealing the Dr J Jayalalithaa University Act of 2021.” 

In his PIL, Shanmugam had accused the DMK government of neglecting the Dr J Jayalalithaa University and sought a direction to provide necessary funds for its smooth functioning and upkeep.