Adding a twist to the controversy over relieving of B.R. Babu from the post of registrar of Pondicherry Central University, A. Balasubramanian, a retired deputy registrar and former law officer, has written to the Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar and other senior officials in the ministry and Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi terming the Executive Council’s ratification to relieve Mr. Babu as “invalid and illegal.”
In a letter of September 27, Mr. Balasubramanian has written that the relieving of Mr. Babu from the position of Registrar on September 21 under Section 12 (3) of the Pondicherry University Act (as seen from the university official press release) is a nullity, since Section 12 (3) relates to Chancellor’s function and has nothing to do with relieving of Registrar by Vice-Chancellor (in-charge). “Hence the action of relieving of Mr. Babu as Registrar under Section 12 (3) is irrelevant, invalid and void ab-initio and has no existence in the eye of law,” he said.
Short notice
In his letter of September 26, he has alleged that the officiating Vice-Chancellor Anisa Basheer Khan convened emergency meeting of the executive council on September 25 at a short notice within less than 48 hours for which the requisite quorum was not available.
As per the statute 11(1) of the Pondicherry University Act, the Executive Council has 21 members, including the Vice-Chancellor (in-charge). “According to Statue 11(3), one third of the total members of the Executive Council shall form the quorum for a meeting of the Executive Council. Hence, presence of at least seven members is required for the quorum to hold a valid meeting of the Executive Council under the University Act,” he said.
He alleged that there were only six members, including Vice-Chancellor (in-charge). “Section 38 of the Pondicherry University Act clearly states that the existence of vacancies shall not render the proceedings of the university authorities (such as court, executive council, academic council etc) invalid by that very reason. Hence, the Ministry may take action against the Vice-Chancellor (in-charge) for violating the statute and conducting the Executive Council meeting, since no one is above the law,” Mr. Balasubramanian said.
When contacted, a senior official in Pondicherry University said that three vacancies in the Executive Council were yet to be filled and nearly 18 members were present. “The Executive Council chairperson can call for a meeting only when the quorum is present. There were six members which forms one-third of the council members,” said the official.
The official said the section 12(3) was wrongly quoted in the order instead of section 13(3) which bestows power on the Vice-Chancellor to take decisions. “It was a typo error,” added the official, stating that rules were not violated in ratifying the decision.
The Vice-Chancellor (in-charge) was not available for comments.
