‘Bid to take over registrar's room' at Gurukul Kangri foiled by striking employees
Employees of the university, on strike since July over the adoption of the 2019 UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) regulations instead of the 2023 regulations, allegedly foiled the attempt, forcing Kumar to return to his makeshift office.
Kumar had been removed by Hemalatha but was reinstated by chancellor S K Arya. The chancellor also removed Hemalatha and appointed Prabhat Kumar as VC, a move she refused to recognise, claiming her own appointment was made by the education ministry under UGC norms based on seniority.
Before her removal, Hemalatha had appointed Vipul Sharma as registrar.
Hemalatha has approached the Uttarakhand high court (HC) against her removal, alleging Prabhat captured the VC's office on July 7 with the help of the district administration. She also claims Arya's appointment as chancellor was illegal.
Following Wednesday's incident, employees wrote to the district magistrate, demanding measures to prevent further attempts to "seize control of the university by force".
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They pointed out that such a takeover had succeeded on July 7 and noted that the high court had asked the district administration to name officials who allegedly helped Prabhat in that incident.
Earlier last week, the high court observed that a March 3 letter signed by an under secretary granting the Punjab, Haryana, and Delhi units of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha (APS), the varsity's governing body, exemption from the 2023 UGC regulations may not be acceptable to the court.
The exemption allowed APS to retain appointment powers curtailed by the 2023 regulations, and in May, the court had cited the letter while allowing APS to appoint the university's chancellor and vice-chancellor.
The case was filed by university employees against APS.
The court's query to Gaurav Bhandari, the CGSC, drew what it termed an unconvincing reply in his counter affidavit. After reviewing it, the court asked him to specify the paragraphs containing the answer.
On his response, the bench remarked: "A plain reading of the paragraphs nowhere states or reveals which provision of the UGC Act, 1956, vests competency in the under secretary to pass such an order or authorise such takeover of a university.
" It added, "It is apparent that this respondent is deliberately evading an answer to the query which, in our prima facie opinion, goes to the very root of the matter. At this stage, we have no other option but to infer that the under secretary has acted without authority."
If the court rules in favour of the teachers and employees, the letter granting the APS exemption will be cancelled and the university will be required to enforce the 2023 UGC regulations. "This has been our demand since the start," said the employees' leaders.
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