By Saman Indrajith
Vice Chancellor of the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJP), and the University Council on Thursday evening clashed over an appointment made by the Vice Chancellor.

The Vice Chancellor of the USJP had appointed Professor Sunil Ariyarathne as the Head of the Sinhala Department with effect from May 11, 2001 pending the approval of the University Council. He had informed the termination of service of the former Department Head, Prof. Rathna Wijetunge on May 10 this year.

However, the University Council met on Thursday evening was on the opinion that despite the completion of retiring age, former Head of the Department , Prof. Rathna Wijetunge can hold the office until the end of the term or the academic year according to the University Act, a senior lecturer said.

"It was the first time in the USJP history that an appointment made by the Vice Chancellor pending approval of the University Council was disapproved," he said.

"Section 73 of the Act says that the holder of a post of teacher who has been confirmed in his post shall continue in that post until he has completed his 65th year, or if he has completed his 65th year in the course of an academic year, until the last year of that academic year, and thereafter be deemed to have retired from the post. Apart from that Prof. Rathnathunge’s office term ends in 30.09.2001 according to his letter of appointment by the same Vice Chancellor," he added.

"University Council stood against this unjust move and the controversy dragged for hours," he said.

Another senior lecturer said that the Vice Chancellor had taken the decision in accordance with the Establishment Code, but the University Act is more supreme to the Code. "Act is supreme not the Code. Vice Chancellor has violated the University Act. This is an unjust to the whole university teaching community," he said.

Despite the disapproval of the council, the Vice Chancellor continued with his decision and argued that the same Act has vested power in a Vice Chancellor to appoint a department head without the council approval, a senior lecturer of the Faculty of Arts said. "But, the VC’s approval is valid only for one month. If disagreement drags on, the Vice Chancellor will have to keep on re-appointing heads for the same department for the next couple of months," he said.

The University Council has been empowered to appoint a head of the department for three years, but, the Vice Chancellor can even appoint a head for one month in accordance with the Act, he said.

When contacted the Vice Chancellor , Prof. Jagath Wickramasinghe said that he had acted according to the existing legal framework and if anybody sees any unjust they can challenge the decision at courts. "The Establishment Code clearly indicates that a person exceeding the 65 years of age cannot hold the office of a Department Head. Some factions are disagreeing the decision, and they can go to courts and test the decision," he commented.

Students indicate that an acting head of a department has no full authority to find solutions and the administration can avoid students’ grievances. "We have seen that acting officials in the universities always had a stock answer to any student problem. They simply say that they are not permanent and are not vested with power to find solutions. After all the students of that department will have to pay the price for the folly of the authorities," said the President of the USJP Students’ Council, Sanjeewa Senarathne.

"Things would have been more pleasant if our teachers worried about more important issues than involving in power struggle among themselves. How can we say the students are wrong to divide on important issues and clash with each other while professors and lecturers are on the fray for posts," he lamented.