Chennai, May 9 (IANS): Tamil Nadu government on Monday tabled a bill in the state Legislative Assembly to empower itself to appoint the Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Dr. M.G.R Medical University.

Earlier, it was the Governor as Chancellor who had the power to appoint the Vice-Chancellors in the Universities.

This is the fourth bill that the state government has tabled in the current session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly for appointing of Vice-Chancellors in state-run universities under various departments. Three bills were earlier tabled for the appointment of Vice-Chancellors of 13 state-run universities and for the posting of Vice-Chancellor of the Dr Ambedkar Law University under the Law department.

It may be recalled that the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin had said in the Assembly earlier had said: "During the past four years, there has been a trend in which the Governor without consulting the state government is functioning as if he has the exclusive right over appointing VCs." The Chief Minister had also cited the recommendations of the Punchchi commission in the appointment of Vice-Chancellors.

The Bill tabled in the house by the state health minister cited the examples of the Gujarat University Act 1949 and the Telangana (Andhra Pradesh) Universities act 1991. These two bills have empowered the respective state governments to appoint the Vice-Chancellors in their state-run universities.

The Karnataka University Act of 2000 which stipulates that Vice-Chancellors can be appointed by the Chancellor with the concurrence of the state government was also cited while the bill was tabled in the house by the state health minister.

Presently, the Governor appoints the Vice-Chancellors of state-run universities from a panel of three names recommended by a selection committee and the Tamil Nadu government has taken a position that the government would appoint Vice-Chancellors in the universities run by it.