Higher Education Minister Govi Chezhiaan on Sunday said the State government might approach the court if Governor R.N. Ravi refuses to sign the Bill relating to the establishment of a university in the name of the former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at Kumbakonam.
Disclosing this to the media after participating in a function held at Kumbakonam on June 29 where welfare benefits were distributed to members of the Autorickshaw Labour Progressive Front, a unit of the DMK’s labour wing, Mr. Chezhiaan said 40 acres of land belonging to the Agriculture Department at Sakkottai had been identified for setting up the university and a proposal had been sent to the government.
However, the Governor, who has to give his consent for the Bill for the establishment of the university, was yet to respond. Attempts to get his appointment to get his consent for the Bill did not fructify.
“If he continue to sit on the Bill, we will approach the court to get the issue resolved and the university in the name of Karunanidhi will be instituted at Kumbakonam”, the Minister added.
A Bill with a proposal to name the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin as the Chancellor of the proposed Kalignar University and the Higher Education Minister as Pro-Chancellor was moved in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on April 28 this year.
The new university would be carved out of the Bharathidasan University, which has jurisdiction over colleges in Ariyalur, Karur, Nagapattinam, Perambalur, Pudukkottai, Thanjavur, Tiruchi, and Tiruvarur districts, and will have (the Kalaignar University) Ariyalur, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, and Tiruvarur districts as its domain, according to the Bill.
Published – June 30, 2025 06:03 pm IST
