HC notice on UGC chief’s appointment

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice to the Union HRD Ministry on a PIL seeking to fill the post of the UGC chairman which had been lying vacant since February last year.

And a Bench of Acting Chief Justice A K Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw directed the ministry to file its reply within three weeks.

The PIL filed by former Professor C S Kalra also pointed out that the posts of the UGC secretary and financial adviser had remained  vacant since 2005. And Kalra contended that the Centre had deliberately delayed the process of finding new candidates for the posts.

Besides, he drew the court’s attention to UGC vice chairman Ved Prakash’s continuation as acting chairman in violation of the three-year tenure laid down under the commission’s rules. According to Kalra, the three-year tenure had ended on March 2. Kalra further alleged that a major fraud had been perpetrated on the system by first selecting Prakash as the vice chairman on March 3, 2009, without advertising the post. And the procedure laid down under the UGC Act was not followed, he said.