Today, Thursday, November 16, the Allahabad High Court (HC) dismissed a writ petition challenging the process of selection for the post of vice-chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). The petitioner, Syed Afzal Murtaza Rizvi, had moved the court on the ground that three candidates, including the wife of the university's acting VC Mohammad Gulrez, were shortlisted by a committee headed by Gulrez.
When the matter was taken up for hearing, the counsel for the petitioner prayed before the court for withdrawal of the writ petition with the liberty to file a fresh writ. On this, Justice Vikas Budhwar dismissed the petition as withdrawn, as per a report by PTI.
To recall, at a meeting of AMU's governing body, or the AMU Court, held on November 6, the final three candidates were shortlisted for the VC's post, including the acting VC's wife Naima Khatoon. Principal of AMU's Women's College Khatoon received 50 votes from the members of the AMU Court.
The other two shortlisted candidates, M Uruj Rabbani (former dean of the Faculty of Medicine, AMU) and Faizan Mustafa (noted jurist and former VC of NALSAR National Law University), received 61 and 53 votes, respectively, as per PTI.
Earlier, at a meeting of the university's Executive Council chaired by Gulrez, the names of five candidates were finalised for sending to the AMU Court. However, on November 6, the governing body pruned the list to three with the names of Furqan Qamar (former VC of University of Rajasthan and first VC of Central University of Himachal Pradesh) and Qayyum Hussain (VC of Cluster University, Srinagar) being dropped.
