The Supreme Court has stayed an order by the Karnataka High Court upholding quashing the appointment of Professor KR Venugopal as Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University.
It was on March 17 that the High Court order upheld the order of a single bench, that had quashed the professor's appointment as VC. The appointment has been made by the governor without the state government's concurrence, the order stated. After multiple petitions, the order was stayed by the Supreme Court on Monday, April 4.
The functioning of the university had come to a standstill when the vacancy of the post of Vice-Chancellor at Bangalore University had sparked protests on the campus of the varsity. Because without the VC, salaries, promotions and various approvals couldn't be seen through, faculty members and research student associations held protests. It may be noted that the vacancy of over three weeks is the first of its kind in the history of India as in the past, no VC's post has remained vacant for more than ten days.
When contender for the same post Dr Sangamesh Patil filed a petition which questioned the appointment of Prof Venugopal, the issue came to the limelight. Following the Karnataka High Court order of March 17, four special petitions questioning the order were filed with the Supreme Court by the professor, state government, governor and Bangalore University administration registrar.
