Following a reshuffle and transfer of 369 lecturers and assistant professors from Annamalai University to government colleges on three-year contract basis, over 40 assistant professors from Annamalai University have come under the scanner of the Directorate of Collegiate Education for being allegedly under-qualified for their posts.

The Deccan Chronicle reported that many principals from government colleges did not allow the assistant professors to join duty as they were grossly under-qualified or held only postgraduate degrees.

As per 2010 UGC regulations, candidates who apply to the post of assistant professor must have NET, SLET or Ph.D. qualification. The inconsistencies in recruitment by different boards are partly to blame. The Teachers Recruitment Board recruit the college teachers as per the UGC norms, but the university acts as a quasi-government body and recruits teachers as per their own procedure.