- PHOTO: T. SINGARAVELOU

MERITORIOUS TRIBUTE: B. Anand. Director, Department of Secondary and Higher Education, awarding meritorious students on Saturday.

CHIDAMBARAM: Annamalai University celebrated the 102nd birth anniversary of its second founder Pro-Chancellor Raja Sir M.A. Muthiah Chettiar on the university premises on Saturday. Meritorious students were presented awards and medals on the occasion.

B. Anand, Director, Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Union Human Resource Development Ministry, paid glowing tributes to Raja Sir Muthiah Chettiar. He was born on August 5, 1905 as the eldest son of the multifaceted personality and founder Pro-Chancellor Dr. Raja Sir Annamalai Chettiar.

Rare honour

Muthiah Chettiar was the first to occupy the exalted office of the Mayoralty of Corporation of Madras. His lofty public spiritedness and high-mindedness evoked the admiration of the King so much that the British Government conferred on him the Knighthood in 1941.

He had the rare honour of hosting a lunch in the Chettinad House for Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. While the Central Government bestowed on him Padma Bhushan in 1973, the Tamil Nadu Government honoured him with "Tamil Isai Kavalar" title in 1979.

New York World University awarded honorary doctorate to him in 1982. As a legislator he made studious preparations before attending the Assembly sessions.

During the 36 years of his Pro-Chancellorship, the Faculty of Medicine and the Directorate of Distance Education were inaugurated. Mr. Anand noted that both Sir Annamalai Chettiar and Raja Sir Muthiah Chettiar were institutions by themselves.

Knowledge economy

Mr. Anand said the student community now had an immense opportunity to excel in their careers. The students should choose the vocations that excited them to improve the knowledge economy, he said.

Fitting tribute

Vice-Chancellor L.B. Venkatrangan recalled his association with his alma mater in the past four decades. He said the Raja Sir Muthiah Chettiar Birth Centenary Memorial Arch erected on the university premises during the platinum jubilee of the university was a fitting tribute to the many-splendoured personality. Registrar M. Rathinasabapathi and Dean of Arts R. Ilango also spoke.

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