Madurai Kamaraj University Faculty Association (MUFA) has written to the Governor and Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) Ch. Vidyasagar Rao and Higher Education Secretary A. Karthik condemning the university’s reluctance to relieve V. Sobhana Bai, Director of Educational Multimedia Research Centre (EMMRC), whose tenure ended last July.
In its letter sent on Wednesday, the MUFA alleged that Ms. Sobhana Bai’s continuance as EMMRC Director was also in violation of Madras High Court’s order asking the university administration to relieve her.
According to university sources, Ms. Sobhana Bai was appointed as Director in July 2010 for a tenure of five years. Later, just as her tenure was coming to an end, the Board of Management of EMMRC provided an extension of one year, which ended on July 9, 2016.
Since she was not relieved despite her tenure coming to an end, some of the university staff associations, including the Joint Action Council – Madurai Kamaraj University (JAC-MKU), soon began to allege that she was occupying the post illegally.
Following this, Ms. Sobhana Bai filed a writ petition in Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court arguing that the Board of Management of EMMRC could consider providing another extension based on her performance and she should be allowed to continue in the position until the Board met to decide on the matter. The court issued an order in her favour on August 1, 2016. However, university sources said that the meeting of the Board, which has to be convened by Higher Education Secretary in the absence of Vice-Chancellor, has not been convened till date.
Meanwhile, R. Selvaraj, who had earlier filed a case in Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court against the initial appointment of Ms. Sobhana Bai, appealed against the August 2016 order in a division bench. Accepting the appeal, the division bench came out with an interim order on November 25, 2016 to relieve her and expedite the steps to convene the meeting of the Board of Management of EMMRC.
MUFA had alleged in its letter to the Governor and Secretary that the university administration was inexplicably reluctant to relieve her even after the November order.
“Leaving aside the court order, the issue is simple. The post was for a fixed tenure. Once the tenure ends, naturally the person has to vacate. This is what happens even to an elected government,” said K. Sadasivam, general secretary of MUFA.
When contacted, Ms. Sobhana Bai said that she need not vacate the post since she had already approached the court against the interim order. P. Vijayan, Registrar in-charge of MKU, said that since Ms. Sobhana Bai had approached the court again, the university had to wait.
