Sunday 13 March 2011

Problems Encountered by Faculties of The American College


Problems encountered by Faculty Members of The American College, Madurai during the last one and half years


Dr.T.Chinnaraj Joseph rejoined the college as a Principal and Secretary based on the direction of the court verdict. The same court order has also stated that Dr.V.George Sevakumar to continue as Vice-Principal and Dr.M.Davamani Christober to continue as Bursar. As Dr.George was retired by then, the post was vacant and that needs to be filled in by the Council.  Dr.Chinnaraj, without conducting the Council meeting properly, illegally appointed Dr.P.R.Anbudurai as Vice Principal and Dr.C.Premkumar Immanuel as Bursar. The court has already given a verdict against the appointment of Mr.Premkumar as Bursar. The petition against the appointment of Dr.P.R.Anbuduari as Vice-Principal is under review in the Madurai Bench of High Court.

Assuming that he has backing of Court Order and the Council has no control on him, he ignored the council and giving torture to the faculty members of the college, particularly to those who were working while they were on strike, with Dr.P.R.Anbudurai under confidence.  Initially, on assuming power again, he proclaimed that he will not take any vindictive actions against those who took classes during their striking days and supported the Management (directly or indirectly),  and his efforts would be towards bringing peace in the college. But, all his efforts were on the other way of giving trouble to the faculty members and disturbing the smooth atmosphere that was prevailing earlier.  The major vindictive actions initiated by him are listed below.

Dr.G.George Selvakumar, Reader in History with 42 years of experience in the college was administering the college as Principal In-charge during the period when there was a dispute between Dr.Chinnaraj and the Management.  In fact, the court has restrained Dr.Chinnraj Joseph in college administration during that dispute period. Keeping that in mind, even after Dr.George’s retirement is over, his pension files were not forwarded to the Government.  He was fined Rs.70000 before vacating the quarters.  In addition, Dr.Chinnaraj issued a Charge Memo after the retirement date of Dr.George and for that he also obtained an interim stay order from the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court.  The Hon.Justice K.N.Basha indicated in the Court order MP (MD) No.1 of 2009 in WP (MD) No.11934 of 2009 that “the impugned charge memo was issued against the petitioner after the retirement and further considering the submissions that the said charge memo was issued only on the grounds of mala fides and without jurisdiction……the court is constrained to grant the relief of interim stay”.
           
            Even after the court’s direction, Dr.T.Chinnaraj had not cleared his retirement benefits and forwarded his pension files to the Government.

Dr.T.Arul Pragasm, Head of the Department of Economics (PG) served at various capacities in the college as a NCC Officer, Hostel Warden, Member of the Governing Council and Controller of Examinations was issued a Memo just before 10 days of his retirement date with no valid reasons.  To humiliate him, Dr.Chinnaraj appointed Mr.Anbunathan as an enquiry Officer who is one of the junior most self financing (Management) faculties having less than 2 years of experience in the college.  The court stayed his move of enquiry.  In addition, he did not forward his application of superannuation to the Government and therefore he has to approach the court to get legal permission to work during the superannuation period.  On completion of his services, he refused to relieve him from service and on that basis he did not forward his pension files to the government and withheld all his retirement benefits including PF contribution.  Dr.Arul Prgasam filed a case against Dr.Chinnaraj for denying his pension benefits and obtained an interim stay too.  The Court Order No. MP (MD) No.1 of 2009 in WP (MD) No.11934 of 2009 indicated that “the impugned charge memo was issued against the petitioner without jurisdiction as the second respondent is not the competent authority to initiate action against the petitioner as it is only the Governing Council of respondent college as entitled and empowered to initiate action …. The impugned charge memo is vitiated by malafides, this court is confined to grant interim stay”.

            Dr.T.Arul Pragasam is yet to get his pension and other retirement benefits as Dr.T.Chinnaraj refused to forward and clear his files.


Dr.T.Alexander worked as the Head of the Department of Tamil (PG) and served as a Controller of Examinations during the pre and dispute period was due to retirement after his superannuation period by May 2010.  He was humiliated and fined for the library damages caused by earlier professors and in addition all his service benefits including pension are not granted.  A case is filed in the High Court Madurai Bench in this regard.


Dr.Elango joined the College in worked as the Head of the Department of Physics (P.G.) was due to his retirement by May 2010. Dr.Elango is known for his academic scholarship as a product of Madras Christian College, obtained PhD from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and also a member of several Board of Studies of various Colleges and Universities and other academic forums.  Dr.T.Chinnaraj forcefully obtained a false complaint from a student and threatened him to support on illegal matters.  As Dr.Elango was straight forward, he issued a suspension order and appointed Dr.P.R.Anbudurai his close associate as an Enquiry Officer. The High Court issued a stay for his enquiry. However, Dr.T.Chinnaraj Joseph has not settled his retirement benefits including pension so far.


Dr.Immanuel Jebaraj was the Head of the Department of Mathematics (P.G.) and he was holding the additional responsibility of Computer Science Department.  He questioned the manipulation of marks and the vindictive actions against the students initiated by the course teacher Mr.Joshua Devadas who is in fact, the close relative of Solomon Pappiah (Rtd.Tamil Professor and Raja, alumini). The matter became serious as all the students protest together. Subsequently, by the intervention of University and the District Collector, a special order was issued and Mr.Joshua was condemned for his attitude and actions.  Accordingly, he was prevented to handle classes for the whole batch of students.  As Dr.Chinnaraj was upset with this direction.  As a reaction to this, several times Dr.Chinnaraj humiliated Dr.Immanuel Jebaraj and finally withdrawn the responsibility of coordinating MCA department.

Prof.K.Sundarrarajan, Senior Professor of Mathematics, with 34 years of experience in the college was denied in giving the headship of the PG Department of Mathematics, after the retirement of Dr.Emmanuel Jebarajan in May 2010.  To humiliate him, Dr.Chinnaraj promoted the next two junior professors as P.G. and U.G. Heads respectively. .Prof.K.Sundararajan is a very sincere and dedicated teacher, and  instrumental for many developments in the Physical Education Department too.  He equips students for higher education in various institutions such as, NIT-Trichy, MIT-    Chennai and IISc-Bangalore.  Dr.Chinnaraj warned him not to go to canteen and chat   with selected staff members in the college.  Without giving any consideration to him   (being a cancer patient), he prevented the attender of the Maths Block    Mr.Suresh in    extending support to him.  Though he is the senior most in the department, he was not    only humiliated and threatened, but also denied the headship position and workload   advantage due to him.

Dr.M.Davamani Christober, Associate Professor in Mathematics is holding the management position of Bursar of the College, appointed by the Governing Council of  The American College.  Once dispute between Management and Dr.Chinnaraj arose, he started harassing the Bursar. Dr.Chinnaraj appointed another person as a Bursar without the approval of the Council for which stay was given by the High  Court.  Dr.Chinnaraj is really responsible for the entire financial mismanagement in the college. He opened bank accounts and tried to divert funds. He collected fees from the students by cash directly and used the amount in his own way.  When the Bursar distributed scholarships to the students, he threatened the students and distributed  Banker’s cheque simultaneously, leading to confusion in the college.  He kept the  Bursar’s room locked and sealed for the last one and half years.  He tried to find fault on him in teaching work, but failed in all his attempts. 

Dr.Vijayakumar is the Head of the Department of Commerce with 28 years of experience  He was working as a College Chaplain as appointed by the Council from 2006. Over night, he was asked to handover the chapel key and all his responsibilities, and he was insisted to vocate the quarters with immediate effect. The responsibilities he was holding to coordinate B.Com self-financing courses were withdrawn and handed over to a new appointee who has his degrees on chemistry and no commerce background. Moreover, he was not permitted to take classes for M.Com. This is a pure vindictive action against the senior faculty Dr.C.Vijayakumar initiated by Dr.T.Chinnaraj.

Dr.P.Velladuai has been working as a Lecturer in the Department of Zoology as a  Management faculty for 17 years. By June 16, 2008, he was appointed in the retirement vacancy and a Provisional Appointment Letter was issued.  Instead of  forwarding his application to the Government for getting his formal approval order, he withdrew the provisional order and appointed him in the management             cadre and assigned UG teaching only by September 2009.  When the matter was  taken to the court, Dr.Chinnaraj expressed the intention to withdrew the imposed order and allow him to work as before.  Subsequently, he was permitted to sigh in  the register, but he was not allowed to take regular classes and his application for approval from the Government was not also forwarded.  In the meanwhile,  without any prior notice, Dr.T.Chinnaraj terminated Dr.P.Velladurai from service          with immediate effect stating that his services are no longer required.   Dr.P.Velladurai obtained stay for this order from the High Court, but he was not reinstated till the retirement of Dr.Chinnaraj.

Mr.B.Ilyaraja was appointed for as a Lecturer in the Computer Science Department in the year 2007-08 and he had been on service till the month of November 2009.  Without notice, his name was removed from service and asked to out of college. On approaching the High Court, an order was issued on 11-12-2009, stating “not to prevent him from performing his duty”.  Dr.Chinnaraj allowed him to sign the register did not permit him to handle regular classes. Instead, he issued a termination  order by 08-03-2010, stating that his service is no longer required.  He again obtained a stay for the termination order.  Even then, he was not permitted to sign in the   register and permitted him to work as usual.

Dr.Gunamalai Associate Professor of Economics, with 25 years of experience as Economics faculty was serving as the National Service Scheme (NSS) Convener. He obtained the Best NSS Officer Award from the Madurai Kamaraj University during the year The NSS programme was streamlined and systematized during his period of service in NSS as a Convener.  Dr.Gunamalai was humiliated by asking him to dilute the NSS programme to suit to his supporters and students who were involved in strike. He was humiliated further by appointing a sub-committee consisting of members who were not related to NSS and junior most     employees of the college to look in to the matters related to NSS programme. As Dr.Gunamalai was reluctant to dilute the programme, he replaced him without notice and forcefully obtained the charge overnight.  Even before informing him about his removal, his name was removed from the College Calendar.

Dr.R.Albert Christopher Dhas joined the college as a Economics Faculty by 2010.  He obtained M.Phil and PhD degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University and obtained additional degrees MHRM and MBA.  To his credit, he received Young Economist Award from AET in 2003 and Best Teacher Award from MKU in   2010. He was holding the responsibility of NSS Programme Officer in the college and contributed so much for the NSS.  Though several times, Dr.Dhas was humiliated in front of students and other junior staff members belonging to other   department, he was maintaining cool by virtue of his academic background. As Dr.Chinnaraj could not find any fault with Dhas, a memo cum order was issued, removed him from NSS responsibilities (without stating any reasons for doing so)    and intended to conduct an enquiry to take adverse action against him with vindictive behaviour. Dr.Dhas replied him for the illegal action against him before   conducting any enquiry and requested him to cancel the order and permit him to work as usual. On realizing the mistake of issuing the order to Dr.Dhas, Dr.T.Chinnaraj did not pursue the enquiry further, but refused to withdraw his order too. To humiliate him further, he was compelled to apply Casual Leave to attend the award distribution ceremony to receive the Best Teacher Award for 2010 (First Prize) from the MKU University.
   
Dr.Domnic Savio:  Dr.Savio has 28 years of experience in teaching English.  He has guided 22 students towards PhD and more than 300 students for M.Phil, and at present guiding 12 students to his credit, in addition to research activities and member of several academic bodies at the University and UGC level.  Though he is due to promotion as a Head of the Department (UG), Dr.Chinnaraj denied to do and compelled the PG Head to hold the additional responsibility of managing UG department.  This is not only a major humiliation to him but also, it is against natural justice of denial opportunity to the most deserved one.  

Prof.Thirupathi Raja has joined as a faculty of Computer Science Department in the year 1993. As he is the senor most faculty in his department, he was heading the department too.  He wa made to stepdown his position and elevated the junior lecturer Mr.T.Joshuva Devadoss who joined the college in the year 1996 and having poor work records that reached the Prime Minister’s Cell and action taken accordingly

Richard Rajkumar, Assistant Professor of Physics, joined the college by 2000 as a regular faculty and have own the support of students for his academic and research aptitude.  He was mortified many a times academically and individually by Dr. Chinnaraj, the retired Principal and Secretary.  As a part of humiliation, he used to visit his class almost daily just to disturb him by asking questions like, Did you take the attendance? How many students are absent? and Did you mark the attendance?. These questions were the same whenever he visits the class. It was a very bad situation in front of the students for a teacher who has contributed notably for the department growth and having a teaching experience of 18 years. On seeing that he was taking tea with the Bursar of the college in the canteen, Dr.Chinnaraj created a false record on the student’s attendance sheet, by putting whitener on a particular day and said that Prof.Rajkumar cancelled the classes and issued me a memo on that basis.  After providing reply to the memo, he was called to answer him but after waiting for two hours, he replied that “you cannot see him today”. Finally one day Prof.Rajkumar was called to the Principal’s cabin and he used all words which should not have been used by a person occupying such a respectable position.

Ms.Sheela Joy was employed as a Lecturer in the Department of Tamil.  When the government sanctioned four vacancies to be filled in, she was sidelined and new members were recruited.  When this was questioned, she was harassed in the department and her name was removed from the attendance register without any prior information and thereby prevented her to work in the college.

Mr.Isaac Dhinakaran was employed as a Lecturer in the Immunology and Microbiology Department.  Professors Suriyakumar and Kumarasamy of the same department threatened him for working in the college. Without giving any prior information, his name was removed from the register and he was prevented to  work in the department.

Mr.W.Chester Manuel and Dr.Balakrishnan are the Director and Assistant Director of Physical Education Department respectively.  As this department has to begin its work at the early hours of the day and closes the day work late evening, the department keys were kept in the hands of the Directors.  With the intension of harassing Mr.Chester and Dr.Balakrishnan, he snatched the department keys and asked them to come to the office everyday and to collect the key only after signing in a register.  The marker who was employed in the department was removed and thereby gave trouble to its normal functioning. During the last three years, he did not give permission to conduct the Sports day which is an important event and function of  the department.  The bills for the last two years were not settled, causing difficulties in sending players for tournaments and competition.  Above all, the PED which was considered as a Part V activity for several years was abolished without any prior information and those who had registered in PED were transferred to NSS and SLP.



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