JOIN USThe Patna High Court on Friday annulled appointments of six vice-chancellors (VCs) and four pro-VCs in Bihar, on the grounds that they were appointed “without due consultation with the state government.”
Quashing the appointments, a division bench headed by Chief Justice Rekha M Doshit directed that the process of fresh appointments be initiated within a month by a government-appointed committee.
Reacting to the judgment, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said: “I do not want any confrontation with the governor-cum-chancellor. We will amicably resolve the issue.”
The VCs who faced the axe are Shambhunath Singh of Patna University, Arun Kumar of B N Mandal University, A K Pandey of Darbhanga Sanskrit University, Bimal Kumar of BRA Bihar University, Ram Vinod Singh of JP University and Md S Zoha of Maulana Mazhrul Haq University. Bimal Kumar and Arun Kumar held additional charge of the Bhagalpur and Magadh universities respectively.
The governor and the state government had been at loggerheads ever since the VCs were appointed in 2011. Disowning the appointments made by the chancellor, the education department had informed the principal auditor general (PAG) that “their postings are untenable” and “there is definite information about the credentials of a few, which could be enough for disqualification.”
The Bihar Government had earlier stated that “the financial anarchy in the universities is directly attributed to such appointments of VCs and pro-VCs by means of proxy and without following the UGC guidelines.”
The letter specifically mentioned four VCs who did not meet the criteria for appointment.