Chennai: The Madras High Court has refused to quash a charge memo issued by the Thiruvalluvar University against a professor for allegedly producing three fake experience certificates at the time of appointment in 2010.
“In this country, teachers are regarded as gurus and Gods/Goddesses, and this court has also described the importance of the teacher in society,” Justice S Vaidyanathan said and dismissed the writ petition from Dr A Panneerselvam, an associate professor in Zoology Department of the varsity, recently.
The writ petition challenged the charge memo dated January 19, 2020.
The petitioner had joined the university as an associate professor in the Department of Zoology on November 9, 2010. He contended that the entire proceedings are mala fide and they were initiated to victimise him.
There was a delay of nearly 10 years in issuing the memo. The Registrar of the University, who issued the charge memo, has no power to do so, he submitted.
That apart, he has been cited as a witness and hence, the entire charges itself have got to be interfered with, he said.
Rejecting the contentions, the judge observed that in this case, the charges against the petitioner are serious in nature.
The petitioner, who as a professor, has got to impart education, but has no qualification. If involved in production of fake certificate, he cannot be shown any leniency on the ground of delay so as to interfere with the charge memo.
“Hence, I find there are no merits in the writ petition and the same is dismissed. It is open to the authorities to proceed with the enquiry on a day-to-day basis without adjourning the matter beyond seven working days at any point of time,” the judge said.
Also, he made it clear that the observations in this order touching upon the merits of the case would not affect the rights of either of the parties.
The decision shall be taken by the appropriate authority in an independent manner and the same shall be communicated to the petitioner, the judge added.