VC Kane says no injustice to dy registrar, Khaty is most suitable

Nagpur: Firmly standing by his decision, Nagpur University (NU) vice chancellor SP Kane on Tuesday asserted that he was in no mood to hand over the additional charge of registrar’s post in accordance with the state SC/ST commission’s report which last month dealt a blow to the top officer by ruling in favour of deputy registrar Anil Hirekhan.
Rebutting the observation of panel member (legal) CL Thool, Kane said there was no question of injustice to anyone in handing over the charge. “The registrar’s post is not reserved for any specific category. Then, how can injustice be done,” the VC asked.

A VC is accountable to only the chancellor and no one else, said Kane ruling out any report to government over the compliance of the panel’s recommendation.

In its order dated December 7, the quasi-judicial body had noted in its report that despite the deputy registrar being eligible for holding the charge of registrar as per prevailing norms, he was meted out injustice on the basis of belonging to SC category.

The VC said he has followed the Maharashtra Public Universities Act 2016 faithfully and there’s no deviation while deciding the incumbent. “The provisions of 2013 GR automatically lapsed as per Section 147 of the new Act because they were inconsistent with the Section 14(5) which empowers a VC to appoint a suitable person,” Kane said.

He added that the new GR states that charge of two statutory posts can’t be given to a statutory officer at a time. “The director of examinations is holding registrar’s post but he can’t be given finance officer’s charge if that post falls vacant,” he explained.

Kane also thrashed the claim that the deputy registrar was not eligible for the post more than the director of examinations Neeraj Khaty. “If the university publishes an advertisement today, Hirekhan won’t be able to apply but Khaty would be. Hirekhan lacks the mandatory eight years of experience as deputy registrar,” he said.

A controversy had broken out after the VC had handed over the registrar post’s charge to Khaty following superannuation of Puran Meshram on June 30. The NU had been unable to advertise the post due to two cases filed by Meshram and Maharashtra Officers’ Forum in the High court. Meshram has been fighting for a higher pay in professor’s grade. The case is yet to be decided.

However, VC Kane said he was now thinking of filling up the post to end the raging controversy. NU officials said the NU may file an intervention application in the cases to seek HC nod.