The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has granted three months’ time to the three-member committee, appointed to conduct an inquiry into a complaint with regard to illegal affiliations and financial irregularities in Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU), to file its report.A Division Bench of Justices C.V. Karthikeyan and R. Sakthivel, which was hearing the public interest litigation petition filed by T. Shanmugamuthu of Theni district, an advocate and former student of the university, granted time to the committee.The petitioner had sought a direction to the authorities to appoint a committee to conduct a fair investigation into the illegal activities involving misuse of official power by the MKU officials.He said substantial amounts which were legally required to be remitted to the government and the university in the form of affiliation fees and other statutory payments had allegedly been deliberately suppressed, diverted, and misappropriated.At the same time, permissions and affiliations had been granted illegally, arbitrarily and without due process. These acts had resulted in enormous financial loss to the public exchequer, he said.The continuation of the illegal practices over a sustained period of time had caused significant financial loss to the government and the university, seriously undermining the credibility and integrity of the institution, he said.As per the MKU rules, Inspection Committees should be duly constituted to verify the infrastructure and facilities before granting affiliation. However, the process had been deliberately obstructed resulting in inspections not being conducted properly. Large sums of money were allegedly exchanged in the process, thereby undermining the quality of education in several institutions, he said.The MKU, in a report submitted to the court, said a three-member committee was appointed for conducting preliminary inquiry into the complaint raised by the petitioner. The court granted the committee time to file its report and posted the matter for hearing to November 16. Published - August 13, 2026 11:18 pm IST