Mumbai varsity VC appointment violated eligibility criteria: HC

The Bombay High Court Thursday ruled that the appointment of academician Rajan Welukar as the vice chancellor of University of Mumbai was "without application of mind" and violated the stipulated eligibility criteria for the post.

A division bench of Justice P.V. Hardas and Justice Anuja Prabhudesai made the observations in PILs filed by social workers and academicians, N. Deshpande, V. G. Patil and A. D. Sawant.

Another division bench of the Bombay High Court had earlier delivered a split verdict following which it was referred to the bench consisting of Justice Hardas and Justice Prabhudesai.

The bench also ruled that it could use its special jurisdiction to direct the selection committee to reconsider its decision of shortlisting Welukar for the post.

Holding Welukar's appointment without "application of mind" on part of the selection committee, it referred the matter back to a bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Girish Godbole for further hearing.

The court further said that the selection committee had not followed one of the stipulated eligibility criteria for the vice-chancellor's post - that the candidate must have published at least five research articles after getting his/her PhD in international peer-reviewed journals, or that the candidate should be the author of a textbook.

Welukar was appointed in July 2010 for a five-year term by the then governor K. Sankaranarayayan in his capacity as the chancellor of state universities.

With a track record of over three decades in the education field, Welukar was earlier the VC of Yeshwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nashik.

Meanwhile, Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray, which had campaigned against Welukar, welcomed the high court ruling and termed it as a "victory" for the student community.

Established in July 1857, University of Mumbai is among the three oldest in India and enjoys a global reputation for excellence in education.