Indore : Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition challenging the extension given by the Chancellor to Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV) acting vice-chancellor Prof Ashutosh Mishra after he completed the prescribed six months of tenure in the VC office.
A single bench of Justice SC Sharma rejected the petition filed by Ajay Chordia stating that it’s not an extension but a re-appointment of the acting vice-chancellor at the DAVV.
The court also observed that the Chancellor had no other option but to re-appoint the acting vice-chancellor at the DAVV after a permanent VC could not be appointed within a period of six months.
The process for appointment of a permanent VC was delayed as the HC had on February 9 quashed the VC search panel over a petition alleging that the election process adopted by the DAVV executive council to nominate its member in the search panel was flawed.
As per the Madhya Pradesh Vishwavidyalaya Adhiniyam, in the event of occurrence of any vacancy at the VC office, a person nominated by the Chancellor as the acting vice-chancellor should not hold the office for more than a period of six months. The 6-month tenure of Mishra had exhausted on February 16.
As a permanent VC could not be appointed till the said date, Chancellor Ram Naresh Yadav had reappointed Mishra as the acting VC till further order.
This move of the Chancellor was challenged by Chordia in the court stating that the extension was not as per the provisions of the Act.
He had made the Chancellor, the Chief Secretary, the acting vice-chancellor and the DAVV registrar respondents in the case.
A division bench of High Court had initially taken up the petition for hearing but on the request of the respondents the case was handed over to a single bench.
Petitioner’s advocate Manohar Dalal said that the single bench rejected their petition and now they would challenge the single’s bench order in the division bench.
