The University Grants Commission (UGC) has written to the Tamil Nadu chief secretary raising objections over the constitution of search-cum-selection committees for the appointment of vice-chancellors (VCs) to state universities without a nominee of the commission chairman, officials said on Wednesday.

The move comes after the Tamil Nadu government released a gazette last month to constitute a search committee to recommend a panel of three people for the selection of vice-chancellor for the University of Madras without a UGC chairperson nominee.

The commission, in its letter, said that the appointment of a vice-chancellor in violation of the higher-education regulator’s norms shall be “null and void” and can lead to legal complications.

UGC chairperson M Jagadesh Kumar said that the selection for the post of vice chancellor should be through proper identification by a panel of three to five people by a Search cum-Selection. “One member of the Search cum-Selection Committee shall be nominated by the chairman of the University Grants Commission for selection of vice chancellors of State, Private and Deemed to be Universities. Appointment of vice-chancellor of a university in violation of the UGC Regulations is not valid,” he said.

The commission also pointed out a Supreme Court judgment from last year in the case of the vice-chancellor at Sardar Patel University, Gujarat. The apex court had noted that the appointment of vice-chancellors cannot be made according to the applicable UGC regulations, even if the State Act concerned prescribes diluted eligibility criteria vis-à-vis the criteria prescribed by UGC regulations, a senior UGC official said.

Tamil Nadu governor RN Ravi and the state’s DMK-led government have been at loggerheads about the appointments of vice-chancellors.

On September 6, the governor had announced the constitution of three search-cum-selection committees to appoint vice-chancellor’s to three universities including the University of Madras, Bharathiar University in Coimbatore and the Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University in Chennai. He had also introduced a fourth member in the committee by nominating a person on behalf of the UGC chairman.

However, on September 13, the state’s higher education department issued a notification for a search-cum-selection committee by excluding the nominee of the UGC chairman, which the governor termed an “act of impropriety” and demanded the state withdraw the notification.