Mumbai: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has cancelled the appointment of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Nagpur Director Bhimraya Metri as the temporary vice-chancellor (VC) of Mahatma Gandhi Anterrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (MGAHV), a central university in Wardha.
The division bench of justices Anil Kilor and MS Jawalkar held that the order by President Droupadi Murmu, who is the visitor at the varsity, giving Metri the additional charge of the VC violates the statutes. The court has allowed her to make a fresh appointment on the post.
Metri, in October last year, was handed over the charge of VC from Karunyakara Lella, a professor at MGAHV, who was temporarily given the post two months earlier after the resignation of Rajneesh Kumar Shukla following a controversy over his alleged chats with a woman. However, the decision sparked an agitation on campus by students who termed the appointment as 'illegal', which resulted in the expulsion of six students from the campus earlier this year.
Meanwhile, Lella, who is the senior-most faculty member at MGAHV, moved HC against the President's order, arguing that the statutes direct that in case of resignation of VC, the temporary charge should be given to the pro-VC of the university, or the senior most professor, in case proVC wasn't available. Since there was no pro-VC at the varsity, Lella argued that he deserved to be the VC.
In response, a deputy secretary at the Union Ministry of Education, on behalf of the president, argued that there are certain complaints of 'serious nature' and hence Metri was given the additional charge. However, HC rejected this contention, and held that Metri can't work as VC as he isn't connected to MGAHV
