The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday, 13th February, 2017 refused to interfere with the process of selection and appointment of Vice Chancellor (VC) for the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and dismissed a plea in this regard filed by an AMU almuni Syed Abrar Ahmed. Before dismissing the plea challenging the ongoing process on appointment of the VC after the retirement of the incumbent Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Zameer Uddin Shah, a bench comprising Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice N V Ramana took on record that the three shortlisted candidates fulfill the academic guidelines laid by UGC (University Grants Commission) for the top post of the University.
Taking note of the submission, the bench asked Bhushan not to stall the process of appointment and pointed out that though AMU is claiming that UGC guidelines was not mandatory for appointment, it has followed the same. Bhushan submitted that there would be serious implications if the UGC guidelines was not followed by central universities like AMU.
Earlier, AMU submitted that since it was a minority institution, it was not mandatory for it to adhere to the UGC guidelines but in the current process, all the three candidates out of the five, who were in the fray, fulfil the UGC guidelines. A petition was filed earlier in the apex court challenging AMU's selection process in appointing Lt Gen (Retd) Zameer Uddin Shah as the Vice Chancellor of the university.
Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, appearing for AMU, said three shortlisted names have been sent to the President of India, who is the Visitor of the university. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for AMU almuni Syed Abrar Ahmed who is also seeking ouster of Shah as VC, submitted that whether AMU is a minority institution or not will have no impact on the appointment of a new VC which has to be in accordance with the UGC guidelines.
When he was seeking de-tagging of the issue of VC with that of the main petition in which the Centre has defended the high court judgement stripping AMU as a minority institution, the bench said, "the minority issue would again be raised and then we have to tag all the petitions". Ramachandran also submitted that the petition on the VC's appointment has become infructous as the current VC was to retire in May this year and the process for selecting his successor was already at an advanced stage.
The apex court on December 6 last year had said the plea seeking ouster of AMU VC will be heard along with a petition on its minority status pending before another bench, noting that AMU may claim that its process to select the VC cannot be "hijacked" as it was a "minority institution". However, Bhushan had maintained that UGC regulations were pre-requisites for being the VC and there was no question of AMU "adopting or de-adopting the regulations".
The Centre had said it did not take a "rigid" stand on appointment and had already forwarded three short-listed names to the President for approval as the varsity has kept the UGC regulations on the issue in abeyance. The Ministry of Human Resource Development had said the three names were forwarded to the President under the relevant provisions of the Aligarh Muslim University Act.
The President appointed one of the short-listed persons as the VC, the ministry had said, referring to the appointment of Shah. The appointment of Shah as the VC of AMU on May 11, 2012 was challenged on the ground that according to the UGC regulations, the VC ought to have worked for at least 10 years as a professor in a university or on an equivalent post in a research or academic institute.
The petitioner had argued before the high court that the regulations, which pertained to minimum qualifications and maintenance of standards in higher education, had become binding on AMU when it had adopted these on December 6, 2010. The ministry had said that the UGC regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education, 2010 are mandatory for central universities.
"All the central universities should adopt these regulations without fail and as early as possible in order to ensure maintenance of standards in higher education," it has said.
The apex court also declined to de-tag another plea in which the appointment of the current VC has been challenged from the petition in which AMU's status as a minority institution was held as unconstitutional by the Allahabad High Court.
