PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Nainital
In an important ruling, the Uttarakhand High Court held that the vice-chancellor of the Pantnagar-based Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology had no authority to issue a charge sheet against a professor. The court gave this ruling while disposing of a petition filed by a professor of Agricultural Communication of the university, Shivendra Kashyap. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay directed the university to withdraw the charge sheet. Notably, Kashyap had moved the High Court seeking the quashing of a charge sheet dated February 5 and the consequent departmental disciplinary proceedings initiated against him.
Advocate Vipul Sharma, appearing for Kashyap, argued that as per the Uttarakhand Government Servants (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 2003, as the appointing authority is also the disciplinary authority, it has the power to issue and sign the charge sheet. He said referring to the present case that the charge sheet had been issued by the chief personnel officer allegedly acting on behalf of the VC- a move that runs contrary to the statutory order.
Sharma further argued that the petitioner had been appointed by the Board of Management of the university and not by the VC.
