The Bombay High Court today ruled that the appointment of Rajan Welukar as the vice chancellor of Mumbai University reflects lack of "application of mind" and violated the criteria stipulated for the job.
The observation came from the division bench of Justices P V Hardas and Anuja Prabhudesai.
Another bench had earlier delivered a split verdict on a petition challenging Welukar's appointment, so it had been referred to the bench headed by Justice Hardas.
The High Court today also ruled that it can use its 'special jurisdiction' to direct the selection committee to reconsider its decision of shortlisting Welukar.
Holding that the appointment was without application of mind on the part of the committee, the bench referred the petition back to the original bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Girish Godbole for further hearing.
The bench also held that the selection committee had not followed one of the criteria for the VC's post that the candidate should have published at least five research articles after his/her PhD in international peer-reviewed journals, or he/she should be author of a text book.
Welukar was appointed in July 2010. Vasant Ganu Patil and A D Sawant challenged the appointment in the High Court.
