Nagpur: In yet another setback to Nagpur University Vice Chancellor Subhash Chaudhari, Chancellor Ramesh Bais on Friday cancelled the ‘illegal’ appointment of interdisciplinary studies faculty dean Prashant Kadu.
Bais, who is also Maharashtra Governor, censured the VC and the NU Academic Council for blatantly violating rules under the Maharashtra Public Universities (MPU) Act, 2016, to appoint Kadu.
Gold Rate
Tuesday 28 Jan. 2025
The Chancellor’s order says, “In exercise of power vested in me under Section 105 (5) of Maharashtra Public University Act 2016, the appointment of Dr Prashant Kadu done on the basis of the advertisement published on June16, 2022, is hereby cancelled. His qualifications prescribed in the advertisement are not in consonance with the provisions of the MPU Act,” Bais held.
The Chancellor called the resolution moved by Academic Council prima facie as violative of the Act and illegal. He directed the Principal Secretary to the Governor to initiate the procedure under Section 9(4) of MPU Act 2016 as per the resolution taken by Academic Council on March 4, 2022, for cancellation of the same.
Dr Shalini Sakharkar, Associate Professor (Library Science), RTMNU had filed a petition before the Chancellor on December19, 2022. She had challenged the appointment of Dr Prashant Kadu as the Dean. She contended that she had applied for the post, but was termed ineligible. The Vice Chancellor had told her that she can’t be a professor because she works in a library.
According to Dr Sakharkar, as per UGC norms, a librarian is considered to be equivalent to the post of Professor in universities and colleges. There are 22 subjects that come under interdisciplinary as per act, and engineering is not one of those.
