Ponmudy to boycott convocation at Madurai Kamaraj University
The face-off between the Tamil Nadu government and the government was at its peak when a petrol bomb incident was reported outside Raj Bhavan last week
K Ponmudy (File)
CHENNAI: The tug of war between the Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi and the state government has further escalated with Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy on Wednesday said he would boycott the convocation function at Madurai Kamaraj University since the former had not given an accent to confer honorary doctor degree to veteran freedom fighter N Sankaraiah.
"The governor has not heeded to our request, as a pro-chancellor of the university, I will boycott the convocation ceremony tomorrow", he said.
The decision of Ponmudy assumes significance as DMK government had recently moved the Supreme Court against the governor for allegedly keeping more than ten administartive files and bills pending in his office without clearing it.
The face-off between the Tamil Nadu government and the government was at its peak when a petrol bomb incident was reported outside Raj Bhavan last week.
Justifying the State's move to approach Apex court against the governor, Ponmudy said that the main reason for moving Apex court was that most of the pending files with the governor were related to people's welfare measures.
It may be noted that in July 2022, Ponmudy had skipped the convocation function at Madurai Kamaraj University by alleging that the governor Ravi was trying to politicise convocations and attempting to act on his own.
Claiming that the university syndicate and senate were the highest authorities in the universities to take decisions, the minister said "despite requesting twice from these members, the governor has not taken decision".
Listing out the sacrifices of Sanharaiah during India's freedom struggle, Ponmudy said "he (governor) does not know about our Tamil history and he hates everyone who supports Dravidian ideologies".
Demanding the reason from the governor for rejecting the honorary doctor degree for Sankaraiah, the Higher Education Minister "he (governor) should have asked us who is Sankaraiah and his contribution to the country". "Will he (governor) be able to give a reason for rejecting the award proposal, ? he questioned.
With regard to the appointment of vice chancellors in the universities, the minister said each university has search committee, which will look into the recruitment of vice chancellors. "Therefore, it was not necessary to appoint an University Grands Commission (UGC) representative in the search panel", he said.
Meanwhile, the Association of University Teachers (AUT) welcomed the decision of Ponmudy to boycott the convocation of Madurai Kamaraj University to record protest to chancellor's of universities (Ravi) "adamant and contumacious" refusal to honour Sankaraiah.
R Saravanan, general secretary of AUT, claimed that the syndicate of state universities, in the last two years, has been filled with a single ideological oriented people and the Vice President of a political party delivered a convocation address. "In these circumstances, the protest of boycott of the convocation by the minister is fully justified", he added.
