Merger of AUTs may be delayed

MADURAI: The proposed merger of five Anna Universities of Technology (AUTs) located in Madurai, Coimbatore, Chennai, Tiru­chy and Tirunelveli with the premier Anna University in Chennai is likely to be delayed.  It is reliably learnt that before going ahead with the ambitious plan to bring all 500-plus engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu under the fold of the Anna University, the State government has decided to constitute a five-member oversight committee to facilitate the merger process. The panel would be headed by a senior academician and have bureaucrats as its members.  Although the Tamil Nadu University Laws (Amendment and Repeal) Act 2011 has been notified in the Gazette, the State is yet to fix the date from which the legislation would take effect. “A strange situation has warranted the constitution of the oversight panel. The Anna University currently does not have a syndicate or academic senate. The previous DMK government had disbanded these key decision making bodies in the top university presumably to appropriate control from the governor-chancellor. In this backdrop there shall be none to guide the officiating vice-chancellor of the expanded Anna University,” a Higher Education Ministry official said.As per the Act, incumbent vice-chancellors of the AUTs and Anna University would cease to hold office from the date when the legislation comes into force. The senior-most professor in the Anna University would officiate as  vice-chancellor until a competent person is appointed to the post.  It is felt that if the officiating vice-chancellor makes a wrong academic or financial decision, it would be difficult to hold him accountable for the same.“The panel would embark on conducting an audit of the inventories in the five to-be-disbanded AUTs. Most vice-chancellors had purchased cars for themselves and senior faculty members. Besides, they have entered into numerous Memorandums of Understanding with foreign universities. All these must be taken stock of before we go in for the merger,” the official added.  The panel would also look into ways and means for accommodating the staff of the AUTs in the expanded Anna University system.