BU VC appointment row: Governor, State govt challenges HC order in Supreme Court
On March 17, the division bench comprising Justice S Sujatha and Justice Shivashankar Amarannavar has upheld the judgment of a single bench, which quashed the appointment of Prof K.R. Venugopal as the vice-chancellor of Bengaluru University.
Bengaluru: The office of the Karnataka Governor has filed the Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court today challenging the order of the division bench of High Court which set aside the appointment of Professor K.R. Venugopal as the Vice-Chancellor of Bengaluru University.
“ The Governor's office will take action according to law, the office will file the appeal before the Supreme Court today itself”, said Prabhu Shankar Patil, Under Secretary to the Governor.
Meanwhile, the Higher Education Department and Professor K.R. Venugopal had filed the appeal before the Apex Court challenging the division bench order of the Karnataka High Court.
On March 17, the division bench comprising Justice S Sujatha and Justice Shivashankar Amarannavar has upheld the judgment of a single bench, which quashed the appointment of Prof K.R. Venugopal as the vice-chancellor of Bengaluru University.
While dismissing the writ appeals filed by the office of Governor, Karnataka government, and BU VC, Venugopal, the division bench has confirmed the order of a single judge on Septe4mber 24, 2019.
Dr. Sangamesh Patil, one of the contenders for the vice-chancellor post had challenged the appointment of Professor K.R.Venugopal for the VC post before the single bench. He had argued that without the consent of the state government, the petitioner (Mr. Venugopal) had been appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of BU.
Mr. Patil had argued before the single bench that the state government's concurrence was not obtained as per Section 14(4) of the Karnataka Universities Act, 2000, before appointing Venugopal by issuing notification dated June 12, 2018.
While confirming the order of a single bench, the division bench has observed that "Any ratification said to have been made on June 28, 2018, to the appointment order dated June 12, 2018, cannot cure the defects and validate the invalid action. It is well settled legal principle that when the statute prescribes a power to do a certain thing in a certain way, that thing has to be done in that way or not at all".
