Teachers association demands probe into misuse of Madras University funds

CHENNAI: Around 40 members the Madras University Teachers Association (MUTA) staged a protest on the university’s Chepauk campus on Thursday demanding transparency in the varsity’s fund disbursements and probation confirmations for 94 faculty members who have been hired in the last three years.
They also demanded that a new vice- chancellor be appointed since the post has been lying vacant for the last 10 months.
MUTA general secretary G Raveendran alleged that the association had discovered through an RTI application that crores of rupees from the pension corpus fund had been removed in the past one year. He demanded a white paper on the university’s financial position.
Raveendran said a committee should be constituted to probe into the possible misappropriation and diversion of funds during the previous vice-chancellor R Thandavan’s tenure.
He said after the vice-chancellor demitted office in January, several ad hoc sub-committees had been constituted to inspect colleges coming under the university. The constitution of these committees were questionable, he said.
The protesters alleged that young faculty members were held back from pursuing research. The undue delay in issuing post-probational job confirmation had led to a large number of faculty members being unable to provide guideship to PhD scholars.