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Patna:In a significant verdict, the Patna High Court on Wednesday quashed the appointment of Vice-Chancellors of Magadh and Veer Kunwar Singh Universities. Both the Vice-Chancellors were appointed by the Bihar Governor and Chancellor of the two universities, Debanand Konwar in April last year, reportedly without any consultation with the State Government.
“There is sufficient material to demonstrate that no consultation whatsoever took place between the State Government and the Chancellor before the notification issued from Raj Bhavan in the purported exercise of power under section 10 [2] of the Bihar University Act”, Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi observed in his over 40-page judgement.
Justice Tripathi further said that “the appointment of the Vice-Chancellors of Magadh University as well as Veer Kunwar Singh Universities are hereby quashed and declared “ab initio”.
Earlier, a senor professor of Jain College, Ara of VKSU, Pramod Kumar Singh had filed a write petition in the Patna High Court challenging the appointment of both the VCs by Konwar on the ground of violating rules and regulation of the Bihar Universities Act, 1976.
“Both the VCs were appointed by the Chancellor’s office neither with the consultation with the State Government nor on the recommendations of the State Government which was an open violation of section 10 [2] of the Bihar University Act”, charged the petitioner.
He also had demanded that only genuine and reputed scholars should be appointed as the VCs. When the writ petition in the Patna High Court against their appointment came up, the Chancellor’s office reportedly claimed that “the decision had been taken in accordance with the Bihar University Act 1976 and in consultation with the State Government”. The court then had asked the relevant facts and papers from both sides to prove their point and finally came to conclusion that “no consultation with the State Government was done by the office of the Chancellor in the appointment of both the VCs”.
“Whatever, the papers presented by the Chancellor’s office in support of their claim that they actually consulted the State Government over the appointment of these two VCs was dismissed by the honourable court which categorically mentioned that there was no relation with facts presented”, additional Advocate-General Lalit Kishore said.
In his judgment Justice Tripathi also observed that the action was not in consonance with the dignity of the Chancellor.
Of late, there has apparently been a tug of war between the state government and the Governor’s office over the issues of the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in the state universities.
State HRD Minister PK Sahi, who earlier was State Advocate-General, recently had rued that despite his repeated requests the Governor’s office has not been giving him an appointment to meet the Chancellor.
“I want to discuss certain university issues with the Chancellor but for reasons beyond my comprehension his office has not been giving time for appointment”, Sahi had said.
Meanwhile, the teachers community in the universities of the state hailed the court verdict as “historic and a big blot on the office of the Chancellor”.
“The judgment has come as a big embarrassment on the office of the Chancellor which had made such controversial appointments in complete violation of the University rules and regulations”, a senior professor of Magadh University said.
“There is sufficient material to demonstrate that no consultation whatsoever took place between the State Government and the Chancellor before the notification issued from Raj Bhavan in the purported exercise of power under section 10 [2] of the Bihar University Act”, Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi observed in his over 40-page judgement.
Justice Tripathi further said that “the appointment of the Vice-Chancellors of Magadh University as well as Veer Kunwar Singh Universities are hereby quashed and declared “ab initio”.
Earlier, a senor professor of Jain College, Ara of VKSU, Pramod Kumar Singh had filed a write petition in the Patna High Court challenging the appointment of both the VCs by Konwar on the ground of violating rules and regulation of the Bihar Universities Act, 1976.
“Both the VCs were appointed by the Chancellor’s office neither with the consultation with the State Government nor on the recommendations of the State Government which was an open violation of section 10 [2] of the Bihar University Act”, charged the petitioner.
He also had demanded that only genuine and reputed scholars should be appointed as the VCs. When the writ petition in the Patna High Court against their appointment came up, the Chancellor’s office reportedly claimed that “the decision had been taken in accordance with the Bihar University Act 1976 and in consultation with the State Government”. The court then had asked the relevant facts and papers from both sides to prove their point and finally came to conclusion that “no consultation with the State Government was done by the office of the Chancellor in the appointment of both the VCs”.
“Whatever, the papers presented by the Chancellor’s office in support of their claim that they actually consulted the State Government over the appointment of these two VCs was dismissed by the honourable court which categorically mentioned that there was no relation with facts presented”, additional Advocate-General Lalit Kishore said.
In his judgment Justice Tripathi also observed that the action was not in consonance with the dignity of the Chancellor.
Of late, there has apparently been a tug of war between the state government and the Governor’s office over the issues of the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in the state universities.
State HRD Minister PK Sahi, who earlier was State Advocate-General, recently had rued that despite his repeated requests the Governor’s office has not been giving him an appointment to meet the Chancellor.
“I want to discuss certain university issues with the Chancellor but for reasons beyond my comprehension his office has not been giving time for appointment”, Sahi had said.
Meanwhile, the teachers community in the universities of the state hailed the court verdict as “historic and a big blot on the office of the Chancellor”.
“The judgment has come as a big embarrassment on the office of the Chancellor which had made such controversial appointments in complete violation of the University rules and regulations”, a senior professor of Magadh University said.
