Delhi High Court Sets Aside JNU Appointment Of Prof. Mazher Asif As CSPILAS Chairperson Citing Statutes.
(Judicial Quest News Network)
The Delhi High Court has set aside the appointment of the current chairperson of the Centre for Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Latina American Studies (CSPILAS) at Jawahar Lal Nehru (JNU) after Professor Rajiv Saxena challenged it citing the it was against the Statutes as he (Prof Mazher Asif) was not a teacher at the centre.
Justice V. Kameshwar Rao disposed of the petition filed by Rajiv Saxena assailing decision of the JNU wherein it had concluded that no professor at the Centre is eligible to be its chairperson.
Saxena in his petition, said a letter of the university, dated June 30, had said two professors from the centre -including himself-could not be made chairpersons, as he had already completed two consecutive terms as the chairperson and the other was “replaced as the chairperson during her term due to a certain misconduct.
Statute 18(2)(c)(I) of the JNU Act say: each Centre/Department is required to have a Chairperson and the Chairperson is required to be appointed by the Executive Council from amongst the Professors / Senior Fellows within the Centre itself. She states that the said Statute does not confer any discretion on the University to act otherwise.
In his order dated September 17, Justice V. Kameshwar Rao said, “There cannot be any dispute that the Jawaharlal Nehru University has been established under the Act of 1966 and is governed by the Statutes and Ordinances which are statutory in nature. It is the Statute 18 of the Statutes which governs the appointment of the Chairperson of all the Centres under the School including CSPILAS.
Citing the statute he said, it is clear from the above, that the Chairperson of the Centre / Department has to be appointed from amongst the Professors / Senior Fellows for a period of two years. There is no stipulation that the appointment cannot be renewed beyond two years. Though there is no specific stipulation that the Professors / Senior Fellows have to be from the same Centre / Department, but the proviso clause more specifically the
words “where in any Centre / Department, there is only one Professor / Senior Fellow, the Executive Council may also appoint one of the Associate Professors / Fellows as the Chairman of the Centre / Department.” makes it clear that the Professor(s) has to be from the same Centre.
On the importance of appointing professor as Chairperson the Advocate for the petitioner further lay stress on the fact that the purpose of appointing a Chairperson from Professors within the Centre itself is based on the understanding of the role and duties of the Chairperson. The post of Chairperson of the Centre entails a host of administrative and academic duties which include maintenance of academic standards and conducting teaching, research and examination in the Centre. The Chairperson is also required to organize research and is the sole representative of the Centre in the Committee for Advance Studies and Research. The Chairperson brings forth the requirements of the Centre regarding appointment of Supervisors and Examiners and makes suitable recommendations regarding the research work at the Centre and therefore, it is required that the Chairperson is familiar with the subject-matter as well as functioning of the Centre.
In view of the aforesaid, it was observed that appointment of Professor Asif as the Chairperson of CSPILAS is not in conformity with the Statute, as he is Chairperson of Centre for Persian Studies.
Accordingly the petition was disposed of.
