Patna HC scraps appointment of 6 VCs and 4 pro-VCs

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Rekha M Doshit and Justice A Amanullah passed the order scrapping the appointment of the six VCs and four Pro-VCs on the ground that the Governor, in his capacity as the Chancellor of the Universities, had made these appointments without consulting the state government as under section 10(2) of the Bihar State Universities Act, 1976 and the Patna University Act, 1976.

The court further directed the Chancellor to make a fresh list of candidates for appointment of the six VCs and four Pro-VCs within a week and asked the state government to make appointment against these posts within 30 days.

The petitioners Prof. Janardan Singh and Ram Kamakhya Singh had filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the appointment of the six VCs and four Pro-VCs by the Chancellor without consultation with the state government as required under the provisions of the Bihar State Universities Act, 1976, and the Patna University Act, 1976.

The VCs, whose appointment has been cancelled by the Patna High court are Patna University VC Shambhunath Singh, BRA University VC Vimal Kumar, Jai Prakash University VC Ramvinod Singh, BN Mandal University Arun Kumar, Mazhrul Haque Arabic and Persian University VC Md. Samsuzoha and Kameshwar Singh Sanskrit University VC Arvind Kumar Pandey.

Patna University Pro-VC J P Singh, B N Mandal University Pro-VC P K Verma, Lalit Narayan Mishra University Pro-VC K P Singh and Mazhrul Haque Arabic and Persian University Pro-VC Sultana K Jabin's appointments too have been annulled by the High Court.

The Patna High Ccourt had reserved its order in the case in August, 2012.