AUT Accuses Periyar University of Tweaking 2025 Academic Year to Favor Retiring Professors
Updated
Updated · The New Indian Express · May 19
AUT Accuses Periyar University of Tweaking 2025 Academic Year to Favor Retiring Professors
1 articles · Updated · The New Indian Express · May 19
AUT told the Tamil Nadu government that Periyar University selectively shifted its academic calendar in 2025 to help a professor retiring in June secure re-employment.
The association said state universities follow a July 1-June 30 academic year and that re-employment is usually allowed only when retirement falls mid-year, to avoid disrupting students.
AUT argued a 2019 syndicate resolution had adopted the July cycle, but the university later used administrative circulars in select years to pre-pone or postpone dates, extending benefits to some professors while denying others.
Periyar University said its statutes still cite June 1 as the academic year start because the 2019 change never received Governor-Chancellor approval, though it has generally followed the July cycle in practice.
The dispute now centers on whether those deviations were exceptional syndicate decisions or a pattern of favoritism with financial implications for the public university.
Why does a university with transparent PhD admissions allegedly use opaque rules to re-hire professors?
Is Periyar University's academic calendar a tool for retaining talent or a loophole for costly favouritism?