Will decentralise power, says VC
Steps to be initiated soon to fill around 10 senior administrative positions
Arguing that decentralisation of powers led to efficiency in administration, P.P. Chellathurai, the new Vice-Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University said that he will ensure that a person did not hold more than one administrative position in the university.
Speaking to media here on Wednesday, he pointed out that a number of people in the university were holding more than one administrative position, which resulted in lack of focus and inefficiency in the administration.
He added that relieving G. Arumugam from the post of Registrar (in-charge) and appointing V. Chinniah in his position was also a step towards that since Mr. Arumugam was holding at least four posts, including being the chairperson of two schools in MKU.
“It will henceforth be ‘one person one post,’ only” he said.
Mr. Chellathurai also defended other key appointments made by him soon after taking charge. Refuting the allegation that the appointments violated the recently set precedence of appointments based on seniority, he said, “Seniority is only for promotions. For appointing as a person to an administrative position, suitability is more important than seniority,” he said.
He also added that steps would be initiated soon to fill around 10 senior administrative positions in the university, all of which were presently held by persons as ‘in charge.’
Mr. Chellathurai said that he was planning a series of initiatives in the university to improve its overall stature in accordance with his vision of making it one among the top 200 universities in the globe.
“The focus will be on improving research quality. We will be using the academic expertise of retired professors as well,” he said, adding that even the ‘one person one post’ initiative will help in improving research since senior faculty members can focus on academics.
Stating that novel initiatives would be introduced in the curriculum, he said that one of them would be a compulsory 10-day stay in villages for all students. “Students from cities will visit villages while those from villages will visit cities. This will expose them to ground realities and enable them get a balanced view of the society,” he said.
He said some of the pressing concerns in the varsity, including the issues in Distance Education and worrying financial situation would be addressed soon.
Pointing out that concerns of staff members will also be addressed on priority, he said, “The Career Advancement Scheme for faculty members is pending for years. It will be done within 40 days. Similarly, the salaries of guest lecturers in constituent colleges will be increased as per government norms.”
Mr. Chellathurai also defended himself against allegations of a criminal case against him. Stating that the case was filed completely on baseless allegations, he said that he had no doubts that his innocence would be proved when the case was investigated.
“Also, questions have been raised about my academic capabilities. The Ministry of Human Resource Development had stipulated stringent criteria for selection of V-C, based on which I was chosen. I had scored 8.8 on a 10-point scale based on the evaluation of nearly 20 parameters. The Governor would not have appointed me if he was not confident about my academic and administrative calibre,” he also said.
Source: THE HINDU