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2015 Supreme(All) 1264
ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT
BEFORE : DILIP GUPTA AND VINOD KUMAR MISRA, JJ.
SYED ABRAR AHMAD ....Petitioner
Versus
UNIVERSITY GRANTS COMMISSION AND OTHERS ....Respondents
(Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 60363 of 2014, decided on 16th October, 2015)
Counsel :
Rishi Chadha for the Petitioner; Shashi Nandan, Ikram Ahmad, Rizwan Ali Akhtar, S.C. and Shams Khwaja for the Respondents.
Headnote:Aligarh Muslim University Act, 1990—Sections 19, 13, 16, 3 and 22—University Grants Commission Act, 1956—Sections 26(1)(g) and (e) and 2(f)—Appointment—Vice-Chancellor—Requisite qualification—Allegedly Vice-Chancellor-respondent No. 3 does not possess the requisite qualifications provided for in UGC Regulations—Vice-Chancellor to be appointed should be a distinguished academician with a minimum of 10 years experience—Impugned appointment of respondent No. 3 challenged on aforesaid ground under Clause 7.3.0 of UGC Regulations—Objections that have been taken regarding the locus of petitioner and laches in filing the petition are rejected—Nothing brought on record to indicate that University adopted Clause 7.3.0 of Regulations—In view of non-compliance of Clause 7.3.0 of Regulations and in absence of any amendment having been made in the UGC Act or Statutes to give effect to aforesaid Clause of UGC Regulations in relation to appointment of Vice-Chancellor, the qualification would not be applicable to the University—And appointment of Vice-Chancellor of University continue to be governed by Statute 2(1) of the Statutes of University—Impugned appointment upheld. [Paras 23 to 42]
Result; Petition Dismissed.
By the Court.—This petition, which is in the nature of a writ of quo-warranto, has been filed in regard to the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University (the University). The issue that has been raised in the petition is that the Vice-Chancellor of the University, who has been arrayed as respondent No. 3 in this petition, does not possess the requisite qualifications provided for in the UGC Regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education, 2010 (UGC Regulations) which have been framed in exercise of the powers conferred under clauses (e) and (g) of sub-section (1) of Section 26 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 (UGC Act). It has been stated that though clause 7.3.0 of the UGC Regulations which deals with Vice-Chancellor provides that the Vice-Chancellor to be appointed should be a distinguished academician with a minimum of ten years of experience as Professor in a University system or ten years of experience in an equivalent position in a reputed research and/or academic administrative organisation but respondent No. 3 does not possess this essential qualification and, therefore, is holding the post of Vice-Chancellor of the University without any authority.
2. What is, therefore, in issue in this petition is whether the aforesaid clause 7.3.0 of the UGC Regulations would at all be applicable to the University. To examine this it would be necessary to refer to the provisions of the Act, the Statutes and the Ordinances of the University as also the provisions of the UGC Act and the UGC Regulations.
3. The University was established under the provisions of the Aligarh Muslim University Act, 1920 (the University Act). Section 3 of the Act deals with incorporation and provides that the Chancellor, Pro-Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor and the members of the University Court, the Executive Council and the Academic Council shall be a body corporate by the name of Aligarh Muslim University and shall have perpetual succession and a common seal and shall sue and shall be sued by that name. Section 13 provides that the President shall be the Visitor of the University. Section 16 deals with the Officers of the University and amongst others, the Chancellor, the Pro-Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor are stated to be Officers of the University. Sub-section (1) of Section 19 deals with the Vice-Chancellor. It provides that the Vice-Chancellor shall be appointed by the Visitor in such manner as may be prescribed by the Statutes. Sub-section (2) of Section 19 provides that the Vice-Chancellor shall be the principal executive and academic officer of the University, and shall exercise general supervision and control over the affairs of the University and give effect to the decisions of all the authorities of the University. Sub-section (3) of Section 19 deals with a situation in which the Vice-Chancellor can exercise any power conferred on any authority of the University. It would be appropriate to reproduce Section 19 of the Act which is as follows :
“19. The Vice-Chancellor.—(1) The Vice-Chancellor shall be appointed by the Visitor in such manner as may be prescribed by the Statutes.
(2) The Vice-Chancellor shall be the principal executive and academic officer of the University, and shall exercise general supervision and control over the affairs of the University and give effect to the decisions of all the authorities of the University.
(3) The Vice-Chancellor may, if he is of opinion that immediate action is necessary on any matter, exercise any power conferred on any authority of the University by or under this Act and shall report to such authority the action taken by him on such matter :
Provided that if the authority concerned is of opinion that such action ought not to have been taken, it may refer the matter to the Visitor whose decision thereon shall be final
