Stalin justifies elevation of CM as chancellors of varsities

CHENNAI: Chief minister MK Stalin on Tuesday justified the bill passed by the State Assembly for elevating the chief minister as Chancellor of varsities in the state and said that only if a CM elected by the people is the chancellor, whatever the people needed could be done.

Speaking at the second convocation of Tamilnadu Dr J Jayalalithaa Music and Fine Arts University in the city, Stalin listed out the honours done for eminent musicians and said, “Since I, a chief minister elected by the people, remain the Chancellor of the university, I am able to take such decisions reflecting the views of people. Hence, we argue that the CM must be the chancellor of all universities.”

Referring to the Bill passed by the State Assembly to this effect, the CM said, “I don’t want to get into that. The Supreme Court is seized off the matter and it is hearing the related cases. Good news will come. Let us anticipate good news.”

“You must have read news reports about the observations of the judges regarding upholding the rights of the states. Education must be moved from concurrent to state list. Only then can the states achieve the target of providing education to all. I am not saying this for Tamilnadu alone. I’m speaking for all the states in the country,” the CM added.

Reiterating that education was the fair asset of person, Stalin said, “That education must be delivered to all. That is the policy of the Dravidian model government.”