Mumbai university's vice chancellor (VC) Rajan Welukar has sought a clarification about the Bombay high court order which held that the MU made a serious error in shortlisting his name because he apparently did not fulfil requisite eligibility criteria for appointment to the post.
Welukar made his request before a division bench of chief justice Mohit Shah and justice BP Colabawalla. The bench asked him to seek his clarification from another bench, one headed by justice PV Hardas, which had passed the order on December 11.
A division bench of justices PV Hardas and Anuja Prabhudessai had observed that the search committee of MU did not apply its mind while ascertaining mandatory qualifications- whether Rajan Welukar had to his credit minimum five research papers published in peer-reviewed or referred international research journal after his Ph.D.
The order did not say that Welukar was held disqualified to be VC. That issue was to be decided by a bench headed by the Chief Justice.
When the matter came up for hearing before the chief justice, Welukar's counsel made an application saying that they required clarifications in the December 11 order.
Shekhar Jagtap, counsel for one of the petitioners who have challenged Welukar's appointment, said that Welukar was adopting delaying tactics as his tenure is due to expire in four months.
Three other judges have ruled in favour of the petitioners by observing that the search committee had committed an error in shortlisting Welukar's name for the post of VC.
"In that case, he (Welukar) should be restrained from taking important decisions as a VC till the time the issue is decided," argued Jagtap.
However, the chief justice refused to grant the request and asked Welukar to approach the bench headed by justice Hardas on December 24 to seek clarification.
On January 5, the chief justice will decide on the legality of Welukar's appointment.
The issue of Welukar's appointment came to HC after PILs were filed by social workers Nitin Deshpande and Vasant Ganu Patil, as well as a petition by AD Sawant, former vice chancellor of Rajasthan university.
On August 10, 2011 a division bench of chief justice and justice Girish Godbole gave a split verdict on the issue. While the chief justice agreed that Welukar had all the required qualifications, justice Godbole noted that of the 12 publications claimed by Welukar, only five could be considered as they had been posted in September 2004, and directed the search committee to decide whether they fulfilled the criteria.
The matter was referred to a single judge, justice SJ Vazifdar, who on February 22, 2012 agreed with justice Godbole, but could not decide on the issue. Thereafter, on May 11, 2012 the matter was referred to a new division bench headed by justice PV Hardas.
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