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PRESS MEET - ACPAC

DECCAN CHRONICLE | 16-10-2012

ACTION SOUGHT AGAINST COLLEGE PRINCIPAL
TOI | Oct 17, 2012, 07.09AM IST

MADURAI: The Action Committee for Protecting American College Constitution (ACPAC) has urged the president of the governing council of the college and moderator of CSI church, G Devakadatcham, to remove M Davamani Christopher, principal of American College, after the Madurai bench of the Madras high court quashed his appointment.

Justice Vinod K Sharma in his judgement over the writ petition filed by S David Amirtharajan, challenging the appointment of Davamani Christopher, said the selection was arbitrary and the appointment was hit by the principles of natural justice. David Amirtharajan challenged the appointment on grounds that he was better qualified for the position and he appeared for the selection. However, the petitioner said the governing council headed by then Madurai-Ramnad CSI Bishop, Christopher Asir, influenced the council to elect Davamani, who was also his son-in-law. The single judge ruled that the selection process was totally arbitrary and in violation of Article 14 of the Indian Constitution. The judge also rejected the claim of Davamani's counsel that the order will be against the rights of minority institutions. The right to govern a minority institution cannot be extended to defeat the basic principles of law, the judge observed.

Further, the judge also noted that the appointment of Davamani Christopher as principal was not sustainable in law since the selection committee had followed UGC regulations framed in 2000 against the regulations framed in 2010. Hence the court quashed the appointment of the principal and directed the college to conduct a fresh selection based on merits of candidates.

Under these circumstances, based on the court verdict, ACPAC demanded the immediate step down of Davamani Christopher and the moderator to initiate the constitutional process to make the vice-principal assume office as principal in-charge and secretary so as to provide continuity till a properly qualified principal and secretary was appointed. The committee also urged the moderator to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Davamani for misrepresenting his academic credentials. The committee claimed that Alagappa University had issued a notice to Davamani earlier to surrender his PhD, withdrawing his inter-disciplinary degree. They also urged the director of collegiate education to initiate proceedings to withdraw the out-of-turn promotion given to him as reader in mathematics as he claimed that he possessed an interdisciplinary degree.

INDIAN EXPRESS | 16-10-2012 | P5