Prof. Eqbal Hussain, who was recently ousted as the officiating Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), on Tuesday approached the Delhi High Court against the appointment of Prof. Mohammad Shakeel in his place, calling it “illegal and arbitrary”.
The varsity appointed Shakeel as its Officiating Vice Chancellor (VC) on May 22, hours after the high court quashed the appointment of Hussain to the post.
In his petition, Hussain said the fresh appointment is in violation of the court’s order which, “in clear and unambiguous terms”, had asked the Visitor, the President of India, to appoint an officiating VC.
Justice Tushar Rao Gedela listed the plea for hearing on May 30 after he was informed that the Visitor is seized of the matter.
During the hearing, Justice Gedela asserted that his May 22 order was “very clear” that the appointment has to be made by the Visitor, and questioned how the appointment was stated to have been done by the university.
“I am very clear Visitor has the power. Under what power has Jamia done it? Who has done it? Does registrar have the power to appoint?” the court said.
Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma and advocate Pritish Sabharwal, appearing for JMI, informed the court that the nominees of the Visitor participated in the meeting that decided the appointment of Shakeel, the senior most professor, and the matter was being considered by the Visitor.
The petition said the appointment of Prof Shakeel as the officiating VC was illegal, arbitrary and void ab initio.
The high court had on May 22 quashed the appointment of Hussain as the Pro Vice Chancellor (VC) and subsequently as Officiating VC of Jamia, holding that the appointments were not made in conformity with the relevant statute.
It had, however, directed that to ensure that the academic and administrative machinery of the university does not suffer or come to a complete halt, fresh appointment to the post of officiating VC be made within one week.
The court had also asked the Visitor to order initiation of the process of appointing a regular VC in the meantime.
On September 14, 2023, then VC Prof Najma Akhtar had appointed Hussain as the Pro VC of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI). Subsequently, upon Akhtar’s superannuation on November 12, 2023, another notification was issued by the office of the Registrar about Hussain assuming the charge of Officiating VC.
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