Allahabad HC dismisses petition challenging selection process for AMU vice-chancellor

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday dismissed a writ petition challenging the process of selection for the post of vice chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University.

When the matter was taken up for hearing, the counsel for the petitioner prayed before the court for withdrawal of the writ petition with liberty to file a fresh writ on which Justice Vikas Budhwar dismissed the petition as withdrawn. The petitioner, Syed Afzal Murtaza Rizvi, had moved the court on the ground that three candidates, including wife of university's acting VC Mohammad Gulrez, were shortlisted by a committee headed by Gulrez.

At a meeting of AMU's governing body held on November 6, the final three candidates were shortlisted for the VC's post, including acting VC's wife Naima Khatoon. Khatoon, who is the principal of AMU's Women's College, received 50 votes of the members of the AMU Court, the governing body.

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The other two shortlisted candidates, M Uruj Rabbani (former dean of Faculty of Medicine, AMU) and Faizan Mustafa (noted jurist and former VC of National Law University, Nalsar), got 61 and 53 votes, respectively. 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. 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.