The University Grants Commission has red-flagged India’s premier Forest Research Institute Deemed to be University (FRIDU) in Dehradun over alleged appointment of the Vice-Chancellor in violation of rules framed for maintaining the standards of higher education.
Responding to a petition challenging the appointment of a bureaucrat, Dr. Savita, as the V-C of the university, the UGC has submitted before the Delhi High Court that the rules mandate appointment of an academician with a minimum of 10 years of experience as a professor.
“There is nothing on record to show that the Respondent No. 4 Deemed University has followed the above regulations in the present case,” the UGC said in an affidavit before the High Court.
The regulator thereafter backed the removal of Dr. Savita, an Indian Forest Service officer, as V-C of the university if the appointment was not as per rules.
“It is submitted that if the appointment of the Respondent No. 5, Dr. Savita, IFS, as Vice-Chancellor of the Respondent No.4 is in violation of the UGC regulations, the same is bad and is liable to be set aside,” it said, adding that the regulations “are mandatory in nature and cannot be overlooked by the university at any stage”.
The petition filed by Mr. Hilaluddin, a former scientist with the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, sought to quash Dr. Savita’s appointment claiming that she did not have the “requisite qualification”.
PhD degree
The plea claimed that the UGC’s minimum academic qualification for the post of V-C is PhD degree holder who has spent a minimum of 10 years as professor in a university. It said that Dr. Savita, also the Director of Forest Research Institute, Dehradun, has never held the post of a professor in any university nor was she posted as scientist in any academic institution.
The High Court has posted the case for hearing on October 16.