Published On : Wed, Apr 25th, 2018

HC notice to Nagpur Varsity’s VC over immoral acts

Advertisement

Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court

Nagpur: Vice Chancellor of RTM Nagpur University SP Kane has landed in a soup yet again. The Nagpur bench of Bombay high court on Tuesday has issued notices to the chancellor along with Kane Kane in a case alleging moral turpitude and conflict of interest. The petition has been filed by RTI activist and former chairman of NU Board of Mass Communication Sunil Mishra.

Mishra had written to the chancellor, informing him that Kane had failed to inform the Board of Examination (BoE), or dissociate himself from exam work, while he held additional charge of Controller of Examinations (COE) even though his daughter Shivangi was appearing in her BE exam in summer 2012.

Kane held the charge from November 15, 2010, to November 13, 2012.

Mishra, who appeared in person, submitted before the court that Kane had orally informed the then acting VC BVG Reddy and then Pro-VC AD Choudhary about his daughter while taking over CoE’s charge. However, Kane never informed the BoE in writing, nor dissociated himself from the exam work, despite being member secretary and involved in the entire examination process.

The chancellor’s office had accepted Kane’s explanation and rejected Mishra’s petition. Taking exception to the same, Mishra moved the court against this decision.

In his HC petition, Mishra prayed for a ruling on whether an oral communication, which seeks to convey the conflict of interest, by the person holding a statutory post vis-à-vis his duties to the said post is a sufficient compliance of the provisions of law. Also, “whether this attracts the disqualification to act on any university post/bodies”, the petition states.

As per the Maharashtra Public Universities Act 2016, and the old Act, the CoE or director of examination is the custodian of the entire examination conducted by the university, and thus can’t participate in it if any blood relative is appearing.

The petitioner stated that it is a case of ‘moral turpitude’ as Kane is occupying the highest position under the law. According to the petition, Kane’s act attracts action under Section 44(E) of the old Act, and Section 64 of the new Act, which disqualifies a person from holding any office in the university.