Court issues notice to Centre over UGC chairman’s appointment

The PIL (public interest litigation) filed by CS Kalra, a retired professor, also pointed out that the present acting chairman of UGC, Ved Prakash, has been holding the post for more than three years in violation of the University Grants Commission Act.

Delhi High Court issued notice to Centre to respond on a petition seeking direction to fill the seat of UGC chairman which has been lying vacant since February last year.While hearing the petition, a bench of Acting Chief Justice AK Sikri and Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw directed the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) and University Grants Commission (UGC) to respond on the plea within three weeks.

The PIL (public interest litigation) filed by CS Kalra, a retired professor, also pointed out that the seats of Secretary and Financial Adviser are lying vacant since 2005. He alleged that the government was deliberately delaying the recruitment for the post.

Kalra also alleged that the present acting chairman of UGC, Ved Prakash, has been holding the post for more than three years in violation of the University Grants Commission Act. "A major fraud has been perpetrated on the system by first selecting Prof. Ved Prakash as vice-chairman of the UGC from March 3, 2009 without giving any advertisement for the post," he said.

Kalra further alleged that the HRD ministry allowed Ved Prakash to continue as acting chairman for more than 14 months even though his tenure ended March 2, 2012. The government counsel, however, said that Ved Prakash was allowed to further continue in the post to maintain continuity. (Source: igovernment)