Governor questions Anna University Bill

Governor questions Anna University Bill

CHENNAI: The state government’s move to restore the Anna University in Chennai into a unitary-type university has hit the roadblock with the governor Surjit Singh Barnala raising over a dozen queries on the provisions of the recently passed Anna University, Chennai (Amendment) Bill 2010.

The Bill seeks to strip the Anna University (Chennai) of its affiliating and monitoring roles and restore it to a pre-December 2001 situation where its faculty was focussed on research in engineering and technology. The 136 engineering colleges, affiliated to the university, would be moved into the fold of a new Anna University of Technology (AUT).

The government had sought to give effect to these changes by enacting an ordinance. However, it is learnt that the governor’s office had raised objections to several provisions in the ordinance. Later, the government decided to enact a legislation to amend the Anna University (Chennai) Act and introduced the Bill, which was passed in the recent assembly session.

It is learnt that the bill only partly addressed points raised by the governor and therefore he has written to higher education principal secretary K Ganesan raising other queries.

The governor has asked for the copy of the report submitted by eminent academician M Anandakrishnan recommending that Anna University be restored as a unitary university. Since the government has claimed that the academic results of students would improve if Anna University becomes a unitary university, Barnala has asked the higher education ministry to substantiate the argument with statistics.

While a government official argued that since most teachers were now loaded with administrative responsibilities including inspecting colleges, a senior faculty member said the number of research papers published or PhDs produced has not dwindled in the past 8 years.

The governor has also cited a report submitted by the Anna University vice chancellor pointing out that the unitary university would find it tough to source Rs 20 crore per annum, required for its sustenance. One of the major sources of funding for the university now is the affiliation fee from self-financing engineering colleges and the examination-related fees collected from thousands of students twice annually.

Further, once the National Commission for Higher Education and Research Bill is introduced, many provisions in the Anna University Bill would get nullified, Barnala said. Above all, students’ interest would be affected if the name of the affiliating university is changed from Anna University to Anna University of Technology, the governor added.

Higher education principal secretary K Ganesan said "We have not come across any objections raised by the governor now. Some questions were put to us when we had sought to introduce the ordinance but the Bill has been passed in the assembly and we are sending it to the governor’s office for approval."


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