CHENNAI: A special Senate meeting of the University Madras on Wednesday passed a resolution announcing R.V. Dhanapalan as its nominee for the search committee to identify the next Vice-Chancellor of the university.

Mr. Dhanapalan will be part of the three-member team, comprising a Senate nominee, a Syndicate nominee and a nominee of the Chancellor.

The Syndicate has already announced its nominee: former Vice-Chancellor of Bharatiar University, P. Jagadeesan.

The resolution was passed amid protests by two Syndicate members representing teachers organisations, who did not want Vice-Chancellor S.P. Thyagarajan to chair the session.

They said the Vice-Chancellor was not competent to chair the meeting as a case against him was pending in the Madras High Court.

Dr. Thyagarajan told the protesting teachers that they were behaving in a "grossly disorderly" manner.

Policemen posted outside the Senate Hall were summoned to bring order but the demonstrators soon quietened down.

The Vice-Chancellor said the discussion on the allegations would be sub judice and directed that the remarks exchanged be expunged from the meeting records.

He said the charges were baseless. The renovated Senate House is likely to be inaugurated in the first week of August, the Vice-Chancellor told reporters later. The university requested President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to inaugurate the building. The exact date would be known after the President's response, he said.

Conference planned

The university would hold a conference on `Talents, Technology and Knowledge Power of India' to coincide with the inauguration and the university's 150th anniversary celebrations.

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