Pune: Bombay high court on Wednesday said that the Sept 14 order removing Ajit Ranade as vice-chancellor (VC) of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) should not be given effect till Sept 23 so as to enable him to argue the challenge to his removal before a regular bench. Ranade filed a petition before the high court on Wednesday challenging GIPE (a deemed university) chancellor 's Sept 14 order removing him from the post and seeking his reinstatement. The matter came up for a hearing before the bench of Justice M S Sonak and Justice Kamal Khata.
Senior advocate Mihir Desai, representing Ranade, made a mention for urgent circulation of the matter before an alternate bench as the regular bench was not available. The bench noted, "The Chancellor of the University by an email dated 14 September 2024 has agreed to the petitioner's request for extension that is continuance as Vice Chancellor during the close of working hours on Saturday, 21 September 2024. Mr Desai, learned senior advocate for the petitioner, submits that during this extended period, the petitioner has instituted the present petition.
" It said, "Since the regular bench would not be available till Monday, 22 September 2024, we post this matter on 23 September 2024. The impugned (under challenge) order should not be given effect for at least an additional day, that is up to the close of working hours on 23 September 2024 so that the Petitioner has an opportunity to argue the matter before the regular bench on the said date and seek interim reliefs." The court gave time till Sept 21 to the respondents to file and serve replies, if they want to and posted the matter for next hearing on Sept 23.
Ranade was removed from the post after a three-member fact-finding committee found that his appointment "does not conform with the established norms set forth by the University Grants Commission (UGC)". Earlier, he was issued a show-cause notice by then chancellor Rajiv Kumar after a GIPE faculty member Murali Krishna filed a complaint saying that his appointment violated UGC norms as he did not have 10 years of experience as a professor to qualify for the position of vice-chancellor. In his petition, Ranade has pleaded for quashing and setting aside his removal and the findings of a three-member fact-finding committee.
He has pleaded that GIPE's chancellor Bibek Debroy did not apply his independent mind or assign reasons for his removal but solely relied on the committee's findings. He claimed that Debroy did not give him an opportunity to respond to the committee's report. The committee was set up to investigate irregularities in Ranade's appointment as GIPE's vice chancellor.
It included Jawaharlal Nehru University vice-chancellor Shantishree Pandit as the chairperson, AIIMS Nagpur professor Siddharth Dubhashi and Tata Institute of Social Sciences dean of the school of research methodology Anil Sutar. Ranade has pleaded that he was merely given oral intimation about the panel. In the first meeting held online on Aug 23, the chairperson was not present while the other members conducted an informal discussion on the functioning of the institute.
On September 13, the panel conducted a physical meeting for two hours at the institute after which it recommended Ranade's removal. He was present at this meeting. GIPE on Wednesday appointed pro-vice chancellor of Tata Institute of Social Sciences Shankar Das as interim vice chancellor from Sept 22.
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