The college was established in 1949 by Kalaithanthai Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar, a 20th-century South Indian philanthropist.

The college was formally declared open by the Maharaja of Bhavnagar, the then Governor of Madras, on 12 October, 1949.

Its mission is to provide quality higher education to the rural masses to realize the vision of Mahatma Gandhi.

The college was originally affiliated to the Madras University, for undergraduate degrees in arts and science streams.

The college currently provides 9 Ph.D., 11 M.Phil., 15 post-graduates, 24 undergraduates, 11 diploma and 13 certificate, educational programmes affiliated with Madurai Kamaraj University.