Health Minister Ma. Subramanian on Thursday stated it was stunning that Governor R. N. Ravi has given “inappropriate information” that the Siddha University Bill contradicted provisions of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Act and Rules, as sufficient responses to all his clarifications have been issued and the Law Secretary had written seven letters on the difficulty to date to the Governor’s Principal Secretary.
Giving a detailed explanation on the Bill, he instructed reporters that on February 18, 2022, in session with the Law division, the Tamil Nadu Siddha University Draft Bill was ready and despatched to the Governor for his suggestion and consideration as this was a Money Bill. On March 15, 2022, the Governor gave his approval to introduce the Bill within the Assembly. The subsequent day, the Governor’s Principal Secretary wrote a letter saying that acceptable motion needs to be taken to see that the Bill was in keeping with the UGC Act and Rules.
On April 21, after bearing in mind the views of the Law and Higher Education departments, the Principal Secretary was knowledgeable that the Bill didn’t contradict the UGC Act and Rules. After being tabled within the Assembly, it was despatched to the Governor for his assent on May 5, 2022, he stated.
On July 25, 2022, the Principal Secretary wrote to the Law division that sure provisions on the admission of scholars within the Bill have been towards the National Commission for Indian System of Medicine Act 2020 and sought a clarification.
The Health division despatched a response on August 25 and the Law division despatched an elaborate explanation on September 17. Till final week, the Law Secretary had despatched seven reminders to the Principal Secretary, he stated, giving the dates for all letters. There has been no response objecting to this, he added.
The Minister stated nowhere within the UGC Act was it acknowledged the Governors needs to be Chancellors of universities, he stated.
