Governing council functions from CSI Diocesan Office!

Indian Express December 23, 2010 Thursday

The Governing Council Chairman and CSI Bishop Appointee acting principal R. Mohan says that the communication from the Directorate of Collegiate Education (DCE) was not leaked, but it was a copy marked to the Governing Council surprisingly, the address on the communication shows that The American College Governing Council functions at the CSI Madurai-Ramnad Diocese office in K Pudur.

According to the former Principal T.Chinnaraj Joseph Jaikumar, the College’s Governing Council is a registered body and it in fact, functions from the college campus itself. On the communication of DCE to Joint Directorate of Collegiate Education (JDCE) which was not sent to the Secretary of the Governing Council, Mohan said that as the Secretary had retired as per his service, the communication did not land on the Secretary’s desk.

Now that the issue is with the Governing Council this has to be settled through the legal process and proceedings are still pending at the court, Mohan said.

When the reporter along with an alumni entered the premises, they were stopped by a group of people who were standing in front of the Principal’s Office. They adopted an intimidating posture and wanted the scribe to meet the Principal before he could proceed further into the campus. When this was brought to the notice of Mohan, he said that these people are present to curtail the movement of outsiders into the campus and admitted the fact that intimidation was happening in the campus.

Chinnaraj Joseph Jaikumar said that all the problems began when Bishop A. Christopher Asir wanted to commercialise the institution. Two proposals, one to give away the land adjacent to the Indian Bank premises in the College to a business-man and the college play ground for commissioning of petrol bunk to a private party, had been brought to his consideration by the then Bursar Davamani Christober (none other than the son-in-law of the Bishop A. Christopher Asir). Of which, the latter proposal, was even brought up in the Finance and Property Committee citing that it would fetch a corpus fund for the College by the then Bursar in February 2008, the former principal said.

Meanwhile, seeking action against the corrupt practice of DCE and JDCE, the faculty of American College have sent telegrams to the Chief Secretary of the State.

The faculty had also sought redressal from the district administration in terms of ousting the outsiders who are termed as ‘criminals’ by the former principal.

A demonstration was arranged to this effect at the college opposing the criminalisation of the campus and to ensure the safety of the students in the college.