Periyar University Vice-Chancellor (V-C) R. Jagannathan has approached the Madras High Court with a plea to quash a First Information Report (FIR) registered against him under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, as well as the charge of cheating under the Indian Penal Code.
In the quash petition listed for hearing before Justice N. Anand Venkatesh on January 18, the petitioner alleged that the FIR had been registered with an ulterior motive to tarnish his image and reputation.
The V-C said the university, established in 1997, had 27 departments and 118 affiliated colleges with jurisdiction over Salem, Dharmapuri, Namakkal and Krishnagiri districts. It had secured 59th rank in the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF) in 2023. “When I took charge as the Vice-Chancellor (in July 2021), I found several irregularities, financial mismanagement and other issues. I took steps to eradicate the irregularities and financial mismanagement and instituted departmental and legal proceedings against erring teaching and non-teaching staff, which caused serious resistance and threat to life and liberty,” he said, claiming that he had found misappropriation of ₹23 lakh by forging of documents in the distance education unit and, therefore, suspended and terminated a few employees who were involved in it.
