| Questioning the appointment of a former army officer as vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) rather than a person from teaching background, the Supreme Court on Monday decided to examine whether the university being a Central university has followed the UGC Regulations or not.
Asking the AMU why can't it follow when other central universities follow the University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India T S Thakur decided to examine the issue in detail on a PIL challenging the appointment of a non teaching staff as VC of the university.
"You (AMU) are a central university. UGC regulations apply to you as they are mandatory. The VC must be an academician and he should be a person who has the work experience for at least 10 years as a professor in a university. If every other central university follows the regulations why can't the AMU? Why to appoint a former army officer?" the bench said while clarifying that the court does not dispute the Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah's abilities.
The bench was hearing a plea challenging the appointment of Shah as VC. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Syed Abrar Ahmed, contended that Shah was a retired army general and had no academic qualification as mandated by UGC Regulations, 2010.
"The Vice Chancellor should be a distinguished academician with a minimum of 10 years of experience as professor in a university system or 10 years of experience in an equivalent position in a reputed research and/or academic administrative organisation," Bhushan said.
Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, appearing for AMU, opposed the submission and said UGC Regulations were only meant for teachers in central universities and not for appointment to the post of VC which is the post of an officer.
Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing for Shah, referred to section 26 of UGC and said AMU is a minority institution. |