In a shocking and unprecedented development, the Tamil Nadu government has installed a special investigation committee on Friday to probe the allegations of corruption leveled against Anna University Vice-Chancellor MK Surappa. The development has come at a high time when the VC of the state's top university has been surfaced with controversy over the contrary statements concerning the passing of students without conducting the examination and irregularities. 

According to reports, the state government said that it had received several complaints against Surappa, including the allegations that he and Deputy Director Sakthinathan had collected Rs 80 crore in bribes by taking Rs 13 lakh to 15 lakh per candidate for the recruitment of temporary teaching fellows of the constituent colleges and Anna University main campus. 

In its order, the government said that retired Madras High Court Judge Kalaiyarasan will be leading the probing team to inquire about the allegations and the committee will be examining the temporary appointments and other recruitments carried out in the varsity during Surappa's tenure and the probe will also stretch towards examining the allegations of a scam in Anna University's Career Advancement Scheme. 

Addressing the media about the development to probe the allegations against him, Surappa said that he was surprised and shocked. He said that he hadn't committed any crime and allegations were kept before him because of disregarding threats and pressures. He claimed that he hadn't got a single rupee as a bribe. The reports say that the probing committee will also look at contracts and agreements made at the varsity after Surappa took the post of Vice-Chancellor. 

The committee has also been asked to check for any withholding of official position on any person connected with the varsity and the state government has advised the committee to recommend the appropriate mechanisms to curb and prevent such crimes in the future if the current allegations against Surappa were proved. 

The allegations against the Vice-Chancellor include sharing wrong information to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) that the final year students were passed, without conducting an examination. Surappa has also been accused of appointing his daughter to Anna University by misusing the powers guaranteed to him. He was also accused of committing a scam in procuring machinery and alleged financial irregularities in semester examination and re-evaluation. 

Besides these internal allegations, the Vice-Chancellor ran into controversy over Anna University's Institute of Eminence (IoE) tag. Recently, Surappa had addressed the Central government and demanded to provide the tag faster. He went on to say that the varsity is capable of generating Rs 1,570 crore in five years and it didn't need the funding from the state government. 

With the back to back allegations, the opposition leaders had urged the government to dismiss Surappa from the post of the Vice-Chancellor and after the government has formed a committee to probe the allegations, Surappa said that he is ready to face the investigation.