FIRST VICE CHANCELLOR OF SV UNIVERSITY & CO-FOUNDER
SIRAM GOVINDARAJULA NAIDU
Birth, Child hood: Sri Seeram Govindarajulu Naidu (for short, Sri S.G.Naidu) was born in or about the year 1897 in Tiramalla, a Village in Guntur District, the 7 child of Seeram Ranganaikulu Naidu, a small time officer in the P.W.Department. His mother having died soon after his birth and his father having taken a second wife, young Govindarajulu was taken by his paternal uncle to Madras and that uncle brought him up there as his own son, though he had two sons of his own. That i patemal uncle of Sri S.G.Naidu was, a culebrity in his own right, and it may not be out of place to say a few words about him. Sri Dewan Bahadur Seeram Venkata Ramadas Naidu, the paternal uncle and foster father of S.G.Naidu, had a distinguished academic career, as is evident from the fact that his name finds a place in the Roll call of Honour hung near the portals of Madras Presidency College, indicating that he was a distinguished alumnus of that college in the early years of the last century. Because of his academic distinctions, the then Madras Government recruited him directly as a Deputy Collector. Because of his tender age, people. used to call him as Boy Deputy Collector. In the fullness of time, he came to occupy important official positions such as Chief Presidency Magistrate and Secretary, Board of Revenue at Madras. Later, he was appointed as Dewan of Puddukottah, when the Ruler of that state was in exile at Australia, having married a foreign lady. In the absence of the Ruler, the Dewan was enjoying all the honours due to the Ruler of thee state. In recognition of his distinguished public service, the then British Government conferred upon him the title "Dewan Bahadur". Unfortunately, Dewan Bahadur Seeram Venkata Ramdas Naidu did not live long and he died in hamess.
Education: Since his foster son, S.G.Naidu was like himself having a brilliant academic career in the Madras Christian College High School and later in the Madras Christian College, he expressed a desire, before his death, that his foster son should be sent at the cost of his estate to England to study and qualify for I.C.S. Accordingly, Sri S.G.Naidu was sent to En- gland for qualifying himself for I.C.S. Unfortunately, he was not selected. It appears he failed in the personality test. Perhaps, his diminutive stature weighed him down in the personality test. He continued to stay on in England for full 4 years, studying Law in Cambridge and getting himself enrolled as a Bar-at-Law. Career: After returning from England, Sri S.G.Naidu set up practice in the Madras High Court. But he did not clock in the legal profession since profound knowledge of law was not the only thing required for one to be successful at the Bar. In view of his academic distinctions, young S.G.Naidu was appointed as a parttime lecturer in the Madras Law College. In course of time; he became a full time professor and later Vice-Principal and Principal of the Madras Law College. Those who studied law in that college and later became eminent jurists, judges and leading advocates speak in glowing terms about Sri S.G.Naidu's erudition, his profound knowledge of criminal law and his analyti cal method of teaching the subject, and high sense of discipline. While working in the Law College, Sri S.G.Naidu was closely associated with the administration of the Ma dras University. It used to be said that he was the alter ego of Dr Sir Lakshamanaswamy Mudaliar, who was the Vice-Chancellor of Ma dras University for over a quarter of a century. Sir A.L.Mudaliar was never taking any impor tant decision on university matters without con sulting with and taking the advice of Sri S.G.Naidu. Whenever Sri A.L. Mudaliar was acting in his place as the Vice Chancellor of Madras University.
D.P.I. & Vice-Chanceller: Just before the formation of the Andhra State, Sri S.G.Naidu was appointed as the Director of Public Instruction in the Composite Madras State and the Government of the residuary Madras State, after the formation of the Andhra State, re levelled on the floor of the Madras Legislature against an Andhra being continued as a D.P.I of the residuary state, C. Rajagopalachary, the them C.M. of the residuary state, defended the appointment with all the force at his command. Since the nascent Andhra State required the services of an experienced officer to head its Education Department, it ap pointed Sri S.G.Naidu as its D.P.I. and Sri S.G.Naidu continued to operate from Madras as the D.P.I.of the Andhra State.Sri S.G.Naidu's appointment as Vice-Chancellor of Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati for two consecutive terms five years each was the crowning glory and a fitting finale of his illustrious career as an educationist. The circumstances in which he came to be appointed as the first Vice-Chancellor and again for a second term speak volumes of the esteem the powers that be had for Sri Naidu and the confidence they had in his ability to guide the destinies of the nascent S.V. University. The university was constituted under an Act passed by the Andhra State Legislature as it was then functioning at Kurnool. Sri Venkateswara University Act, as originally passed by the Andhra Legislature, provided for the Chief Justice of the High Court being the Chancellor of the University and for the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor by the Chancellor. The Andhra Govern ment sponsored the name of one University Professor for appointment as V.C. Sri Koka Subbarao, the first Chief Justice of the High Court, then functioning at Guntur, hailing as he did from Madras, knew all about the performances of Sri S.G.Naidu as an educationist and the part he played in the affairs of the Madras University. He therefore, as Chancellor of the University, appointed Sri S.G.Naidu as the first Vice Chancellor of the university in preference to the candidate sponsored by the Government. The Government could not reconcile themselves to this set-back. At the earliest opportunity, they got the Sri Venkateswara University Act amended so as to provide for the Governor, instead of the Chief Justice, being the Chancellor of this University, thus brining the position under the Act into conformity with other University Acts.
On the expiration of the first term of office of Sri S.G.Naidu as the Vice Chancellor of the University, the problem arose again, with many being in favour of Sri S.G.Naidu being appointed for one more term to continue the good work done by him as the first Chancellor. If my recollection is not wrong, the University Act, as it stood then, provided for the appointment of one chosen by the Senate of the University as the next Vice Chancellor. Some elements would appear to have egged on Sri D.S.Reddi, the then D.P.I. to contest for the election in the Senate as against his close friend. Sri S.G.Naidu. Thus, the two close friends and eminent educationists en tered the fray as rival candidates. At that stage, Sri N. Sanjeeva Reddi, the then Chief Minister of the State, who had high regard for Sri S.G.Naidu, intervened and prevailed upon Sri D.S.Reddi to step down from the contest with the result that Sri S.G.Naidu remained as the only candidate in the field and he came to be appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the Uni versity for the second term. Soon, the office of Vice Chancellor of Osmania University fell va cant and, in fulfilment of the understanding when he withdrew from the contest, Sri D.S.Reddi was appointed as the Vice Chancel lor of Osmania University. Thus, both the distin guished educationists and close friends were accommodated as V.Cs of two different Universities. With his rich experience in the administration of Madras University, Sri S.G.Naidu, well and truly, laid the foundations of Sri Venkateswara University. The University owes its present position to the infrastructure built by him. It is only after his demise that the university authorities recognised this fact and perpetuated his memory by installing in the campus of the University his marble burst statute.
In recognition of Sri Naidu's eminence as an education ist, the then Government of A.P. nominated him as a member of the A.P.Legislative Council. But this fact did not deter him from being unsparing in his criticism of the educational policy of the then Government. There was an occasion when on the floor of the Legislative Council he crossed swords with the then Educa tion Minister, Sri P.V.Narasimha Rao.
S.L.B.T: In the year 1955 the then Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru inaugurated an organisation called Southern Languages Book Trust (S.L.B.T.) With the munificent grant allocated by the American Ford foundation with its head-quar ters at Madras and with all the Vice-Chancellors of the South Indian Universities and some prominent educationists & Jurists as its Trustees. The First batch of the Trustees of the S.L.B.T. Consisted of very eminent personalities like Dr. A.Lakshmanaswamy Mudaliar, the then Vice-Chancellor of Ma dras University, Dr. P.V.Rajamannar, Former Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Sir. C.P.Ramaswami Iyear, Sri. S.Govindarajulu Naidu, he then Vice-Chancellor of Sri. Venkateswara University and the Trustees unanimously elected Sri.S.Govindarajulu Naidu as their first Chairman, in which capacity he continued till his demise in 1968 and did yeoman service in fulfilling its aims & objectives. The main objective of the S.L.B.T. was to provide all round worldly knowledge to commonman by publishing high quality books in the four main South Indian Language Viz. Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam & Kannada and making them available at very low prices. Seeing the success of this scheme the Govt. of India later established the National Book Trust, India with similar objectives making use of the rich experience and advice of Sri.S.Govindarajulu Naidu. Hope it won't be out of place to mention here that the co-author of this write-up, Mr.Gummalla Surya Rao had the privilege of being closely associated with Sri. Govindarajulu Naidu and the S.L.B.T. as the Secretary of the organization for over a de cade.
Prof. Sri.Govindarajulu Naidu with his vast allround knowledge and experience used to participate in various high level Na tional and International conferences as a spe cial invitee and dominate the proceedings and contribute a lot to several Govts. and organi zations such as, U.P.S.C., U.G.C., L.I.C. UNESCO; etc. He was also the editor of the Tamil Edition of "UNESCO Courier".
Family and Friends: Mrs. Lakshmi Devamma. wife of Sri. S.Govindarajulu Naidu hailed from the famous Kommireddi family of Kakinada. He had two daughters. The eldest one Dr.Lakshmi Bhanu was a Govt. Civil Surgeon in Delhi, and was married to Dr.P.Umamaheswara Rao a top official in ried to Sri.N.Seshachalam a top Railway Of ficer in Madras. The grand daughter of Sri.Govindarajulu Naidu was married to the grand son of Sir.K.V.Reddi Naidu former Governor of Madras. Sri Thota Ramaswami Naidu Ex-Minister in A.P. Cabinet & Sri.S.L.R.Naidu were the co-brothers of sri.S.G.Naidu.
Central Govt. Medical Servicce in Delhi. The second daughter Smr.Kondamma was married to Sri.N.Seshachalam a top Railway Of ficer in Madras. The grand daughter of Sri.Govindarajulu Naidu was married to the grand son of Sir.K.V.Reddi Naidu former Governor of Madras. Sri Thota Ramaswami Naidu Ex-Minister in A.P. Cabinet & Sri.S.L.R.Naidu were the co-brothers of sri.S.G.Naidu.
Prominent among the close friends of Sri.S..G.Naidu are Dr.A.Lakshmanswami Mudliar, his twin brother A.Ramaswami Mudaliar, Dr. P.V. Raja Mannar Sn.Koka Subba Rao, Former Chief Justice. Dr. Shreemali. Dr. D.S.Reddy, Sri G.Ranga Rao Naidu Former D.P.I. & M.L.C: Prof. V.S.Naidu D.P.I. & Pro-Chancellor, Kerala, Sri. Polisetty Sambamurthy, Sri. Mendu Surya Rao, Sri.S.B.P.Pattabhirama Rao, Sri. Burra Venkatappíah, ICS. Sri. Swaminathan Dr.Malacom Audiseshaiah, Ex-Director General of UNESCO. Sri.Kamaraj Nadar, Justice W.S.Krishnaswami Naidu. Sri.K.V.Gopalaswami Bar-at-law, Col.C.K. Naidu, Sri M.Balaiah Sri Bhattacharya, Sri.C.Ramaswami, Pioneers of Madras Cricket and last but not the least, Mr.Artur Isenberg. Ford Foundation's Chief Consultant to the Sonthern Languages Book Trust.
ఈ భారతదేశము నుండి ముగ్గురు మహా విద్యావేత్తలను ఆహ్వానించిన అమెరికాకు ఆహ్యావించిన వారిలో దక్షిణ భారతదేశము నుండి ఒక్కరు మాత్రమే ఉన్నారు (Siram naidu ) అంటే ఆ రోజుల్లోనే మన స్ధాయి ఏంటో చెప్పాల్సిన అవసరం లేదు.
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