Students hit as TNAU postpones convocation

COIMBATORE: In a controversial decision which could put the future of over 950 students, including research scholars, in jeopardy, the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) has postponed its 32nd convocation scheduled for Thursday just to ensure that the Agriculture Minister could attend the ceremony. Governor-Chancellor K Rosaiah and Agriculture Minister-cum-Pro-Chancellor of the University K A Sengottaiyan are scheduled to participate in the function. However, the university decided to postpone the event at the eleventh hour on Wednesday as the State Election Commission announced the dates for next month’s local body polls thereby bringing the election model code of conduct into force, which prevents ministers from attending official functions. Therefore, 962 students, who had completed their undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes as early as in March, will now have to wait at least until November to receive their certificates. This could affect their employment chances or enrolment for higher studies. While provisional certificates are considered valid for admission for higher studies, there is usually a cut-off date by when the students must submit their degree certificates for verification. TNAU Vice-Chancellor P Murugesa Boopathy justified the decision saying, “The Agriculture Minister and Pro-Chancellor K A Sengottaiyan were scheduled to attend a convocation for the first time. Once the local body election dates are announced, ministers cannot participate in the convocation. So we decided to postpone the function.” He added that the convocation ceremony would be graced by the Governor and Agriculture Minister in November.