The Delhi High Court has issued notice to the Union government, Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University and others on a petition challenging the appointment of Professor Mazhar Asif as Vice Chancellor of the varsity.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Prateek Jalan sought response from the President’s Secretariat, Union Ministry of Education, Professor Mazhar Asif, JMI University, and the Search-cum-Selection Committee constituted for the appointment.
The order was passed on a petition filed by Advocate Vishal Rai. The petitioner contended that the appointment was made in colourable exercise of power, as well as in violation of the JMI Act and the University Grants Commission Regulations.
The petitioner alleged that there was illegal constitution and arbitrary recommendation of names for the post by the Search-cum-Selection Committee.
The plea claimed that there was illegal interference by the Union Ministry of Education in the appointment process.
Appearing for the University, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Chetan Sharma questioned the maintainability of the petition on the point of locus.
He further raised doubts about the authenticity of documents annexed to the petition by Rai.
Representing Rai, Advocate Amit George said that since the varsity was under the Central government, a petition challenging the appointment could be filed by any citizen without setting out the locus in filing the petition.
He also submitted that the annexed documents in the plea were obtained through a publicly available source.
The single-judge Bench issued notice on the petition subject to the objection on the point of maintainability and listed the matter for further hearing on July 16.