Chennai: The Madras high court has asked an official of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in New Delhi to appear before it to clarify its stand in the matter relating to filling of posts of vice chancellors lying vacant in several universities in the state.
Passing further interim orders on two PILs from CHANGE India represented by A. Narayanan and Prof M. Anandakrishnan, former vice chancellor of Anna University, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana said, “We are of the view that to obtain necessary clarity the secretary to UGC shall remain personally present with all relevant records. Counsel for UGC says there may be no need for the secretary to appear before the court and the joint secretary concerned will appear before the court fully briefed. List for directions on February 22”.
In their petitions, the petitioners sought a direction to authorities to appoint only competent persons to the prestigious posts, that too giving transparency, as per the norms of the UGC.
When the matter came up for hearing on Monday, the UGC counsel sought time to obtain instructions, as the additional solicitor general could not make his presence.
The bench pointed out that the UGC has taken an ambiguous stand. On one hand, they seek to suggest that they agree with the case of the petitioners, yet seem to be doing nothing about it. This was likely to cause lack of clarity even for the future, the bench added.
