Tamil Nadu Universities/Colleges SC/ST Teachers Association on May 2 filed a complaint with the Tamil Nadu Governor and Chancellor of state-run universities RN Ravi, alleging that vice chancellor (VC) of Dr Ambedkar Law University NS Santhosh Kumar fabricated his certificates and produced false information to secure his VC post in 2021. Santhosh has refuted these allegations and responded to TNM.
The complaint against Santhosh says that he, in his application, allegedly lied that he travelled to Hong Kong and Shanghai in China for an academic visit on September 8, 2003. He also said that he visited Malaysia on July 31, 2008, Thailand on September 12, 2008, and Bahrain on July 1, 2019. However, the complaint alleged that he was a lecturer (senior scale) at the Government Law College in Tirunelveli during that time and he did not provide any certificates indicating an academic visit.
Santhosh said that he obtained permission from the then Director of Legal Studies orally before traveling abroad 23 years ago, as the duration of his academic assignment was just one or two days. “Now the procedure has been strengthened, and written permission is compulsory. When I visited Bahrain in 2019, I obtained permission in writing from the government, which these complainants do not know. I also have my passport copy with a stamp from my Hong Kong and Shanghai visits,” he said.
It was also alleged that he mentioned in his application that he organised the second International Law and Interdisciplinary Conference on “Climate Change Resilience and Disasters” in 2017 at Ambedkar University, when it was originally organised by Professor D Gopal, who served as the Conference Director, and head of the Environmental Law and Legal Order at Ambedkar University.
Santhosh refuted this allegation and said that when he was acting as in-charge VC (as chairman of the Convener committee) or even as a full-fledged VC of Dr Ambedkar Law University, he undertook all the activities of the chair, which was also accepted by a nodal agency committee, a search committee headed by a former High Court judge, a committee comprising two former VCs, and later by the Raj Bhavan.
Santhosh also refuted the allegation that he overlooked the reservation policy while allocating PhD seats to waiting list candidates in the academic year 2021-22.
He also alleged that the allegations against him came “under the instigation of aspirants for the VC position, whose plans was hampered due to the extension of my tenure by one more year by the Hon’ble Governor”.