High court stays state’s GR appointing Mumbai university registrar

The Bombay high court on Thursday stayed the January 8, 2021 government resolution (GR) appointing Dr Ramdas Atram as registrar of University of Mumbai (MU) on deputation, and directed Dr Atram to immediately hand over the charge to Baliram Gaikwad who was appointed as temporary registrar, after the demise of the previous registrar Dr Ajay Deshmukh

The Bombay high court on Thursday stayed the January 8, 2021 government resolution (GR) appointing Dr Ramdas Atram as registrar of University of Mumbai (MU) on deputation, and directed Dr Atram to immediately hand over the charge to Baliram Gaikwad who was appointed as temporary registrar, after the demise of the previous registrar Dr Ajay Deshmukh. The order was passed in a petition filed by senate member Dhanesh Sawant challenging the GR and arbitrary appointment of Dr Atram contrary to the provisions of the Maharashtra State Universities Act.

Mumbai - Bombay High Court. Photo by Girish Srivastava/HT 08-01-02

On Thursday, when the petition came up for hearing, the division bench of justice SC Gupte and justice SP Tavade was informed by advocate Anjali Helekar for the petitioner in the previous hearing that the university through the vice-chancellor was well-equipped to appoint its officers. She submitted that the university was a ‘statutory body’ and did not require the intervention of the state government to make appointments of its officers, hence the January 8 GR was ‘arbitrary, excessive, unreasonable and in utter disregard’ of the provisions of Maharashtra State Universities Act, 2016.

The petition had further contended that appointment of a registrar had to be done as per law by the vice-chancellor, on the recommendation of a select committee constituted for the purpose. Even the temporary post had to be handed to someone appropriate for the post by the vice-chancellor only.

Sawant’s petition had also alleged that the January 11 state government direction to all state universities not to start any recruitment process and seeking details of vacant posts, selection committees and panel members was an interference. Sawant’s petition also sought to set aside the directives.

Additional public prosecutor Kedar Dighe for the state, however, opposed the petition and said that the petitioner had no locus and the issue could not be dealt with in a writ petition. Dighe further submitted that the state government had taken the step to appoint Dr Atram as he was more qualified as an administrator and the temporary term of the registrar appointed for six months after the demise of Deshmukh was ending on January 2. Dighe stressed that the state government had powers under the relevant laws to appoint officers to state universities and there was nothing perverse in the appointment of Dr Atram.

However, the court was not satisfied by the submissions and held that the January 8 appointment order was not valid and stayed the same. The court then directed Dr Atram to hand over the charge of the registrar to Gaikwad with immediate effect and also permitted the University of Mumbai to continue with the process of regular appointment of the Registrar.