Senior professors at Bharathiar University whose headship of departments was withdrawn last year, after the policy of once-in-three-years rotation of the post came into effect, are understood to be contemplating legal remedy in the wake of a ruling by the High Court favouring UGC’s norms on rotation of headship among professors.They had approached the High Court citing Section 45(3) of the Bharathiar University Act, 1981, which states that “a person appointed as the Head of the Department shall hold office, as such, for a period of three years and shall be eligible for re-appointment”. They had also cited restoration of headship in one of the departments during 2022, on this basis.The University administration had enforced the policy of rotation last year following a directive from the Higher Education Department.The High Court ruling was that “seniority” employed under Bharathiar University Act, 1981 as well as the word “seniority” employed in Ordinance 4(IV) issued by the University Grants Commission have to be read together.Accordingly, equal opportunity to hold the post of Head of the Department has to be provided to all the eligible senior Professors working in the Department, the ruling said.The contention of the appellants is that the University administration did not follow the procedure of taking the assent of the Standing Committee on Academic Affairs and the Senate for making an amendment to the Statute on three-year rotation of headship during February, 2026.The reasoning of the university is that headship being in administrative domain, the question of following the procedure does not arise. Published - July 17, 2026 09:39 pm IST