Committee finds anomalies in 500 Anna university appointments
COIMBATORE: Eight years after the regional centres of Anna University Coimbatore, Trichy and Tirunelveli, and five years after the Madurai centre was established, a committee has found irregularities with the appointments of more than 500 teaching and non-teaching staff. The irregularities pertain to educational qualification and pay anomalies.According to a university source, the committee submitted its report to Anna University 15 days ago. Following the submission of this report, the state government ordered the university to study the findings, and suggest solutions to regularize these appointments. Towards this end, the Anna University syndicate constituted a seven-member committee under the chairmanship of a senior government official last week.
These irregularities in appointments were identified during the merger process of the four Anna University centres. "After the four centres came under the administration of Anna University, Chennai, we began transferring all the teaching and non-teaching staff appointments under the Chennai campus. During this process, irregularities in the appointments of certain teaching and non-teaching staff were identified," said a senior administrative official of the university said.
The seven-member committee at present is studying the possibility of regularizing the appointments. "We are studying the report submitted by the committee. Most of the irregularities pertain to lack of educational qualifications and pay anomalies," said a member of the committee. The committee is verifying the details of the candidates with all the four centres to regularize the appointments.
Another member of the university administration, who is informed about the developments of the seven-member committee, said, "As far as we understand, no candidate will be fired from the job. Since they have all worked for eight years with the university, we will try to fit them in the university's postings."
On why these irregularities happened, a senior professor of the university in Chennai, said, "The appointments could have been made due to the dire need of staff when these centres were started. As far educational qualifications are concerned, we cannot deny that eligible candidates did not apply for the posts. But, we cannot do anything about it because the administration at that time was different. We are only trying to resolve things without affecting anyone's career."
The seven-member committee has been directed by the state government to submit its findings as soon as possible. Based on their recommendations, the state government will take decisions. A committee member said that the recommendations could be submitted in the next 10 to 15 days.
