Bail plea of suspended Bharathiar University V-C rejected

Government prosecutor Siva Kumar contended that if granted bail, the V-C may tamper with evidence and influence witnesses. On hearing the arguments, Judge John Mino dismissed the bail petition of Ganapathy. Senior advocate C Gnanabharathi, who appeared for the V-C, said another bail petition will be moved. 

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) officials have also moved the court seeking police custody of Ganapathy and it has been posted for hearing on Friday. Meanwhile, a three-member convenor committee has been formed in the university to run its routine affairs following the arrest of Ganapathy. 

The committee to be headed by Sunil Paliwal, secretary to Department of Higher Education, has P Thirunavukkarasu, associate professor, Department of Electronics, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, and N Jeyakumar, head, Department of Bio-informatics, Bharathiar University, as its members. Paliwal said the committee will carry out administrative tasks of the university until a new v-C is appointed. 

“A decision on dismissing Vice Chancellor A Ganapathy will be taken by the Governor based on the investigation report of the DVAC. Faculty recruitments made by the V-C in 2016 will also be inquired by the DVAC as they were done despite a request by the Higher Education Department to postpone the syndicate meeting,” he said. 

Paliwal said impartial action will be taken against syndicate members and others behind the fraudulent appointments. “As this is the first instance of a sitting V-C getting arrested, the legal aspects are being studied in forming a search committee to appoint a new V-C,” he said. 

In the wake of political parties demanding a CBI inquiry, Paliwal said there is no need for it, as the government is initiating action against wrongdoers with an intention to cleanse the higher education system.