Jamia Millia Islamia approached the court and used it as a shield and said he could not pay any of his teachers as UGC had yet to release the sum amounting to almost ₹6 crores.
The Delhi High Court commented on Friday that Jamia Millia Islamia cannot use the court as a shield to get funds from the University Grants Commission (UGC) [GS. Sabiha Hussain v. Jamia Milia Islamia].
A divisive bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad made the remarks while denying the university’s request for UGC to release its funds for the Sarojini Naidu Center for Women’s Studies.
This written request was submitted with the following prayers:
“Based on the comments made above, the Applicant humbly prays that this Court of Honor as a shield and may be satisfied with:-
- Issue Mandamus’ text or any other appropriate document, order, or instruction directing Respondent to formalize Applicant’s Services as Professor/Director and grant all consequential benefits in favor of the Applicant;
- Issue a written Mandamus or other appropriate order or instruction to vacate/cancel the letter/order dated 1.07.2019 appointing Respondent No. 3 as Chief Professor on behalf of the Applicant;
- Then passing such subsequent orders in favor of the petitioner as this Court of Honor may see fit to pass in the interest of justice. “
According to Plaintiff, Respondent University is a central university fully funded by the Department of Human Resources Development, Government of India, and governed by its laws, regulations, and ordinances.
On February 16, 2000, the University Grants Committee (“UGC”, abbreviated and Respondent 5 here) approved the establishment of the Sarojini Naidu Women’s Research Center (“Center”, abbreviated) under Plan IX along with the respondent university.
The petitioner was previously a professor at Dr. K.R.’s Center for Dalit and Minority Studies. Narayana, through a notice issued by the School on 12 July 2016, has applied for the post of Center Director.
The candidate has been duly elected for the position and the selection has been approved by the Executive Council (referred to as “EC”) of the Candidate University as of 10 March 2017. Thereafter, she was appointed to hold the position of Professor/Director of the Center for the period of UGC’s Plan XII or until the end of the Plan’s term.
In letters dated April 27, 2017, and July 31, 2018, Respondent University requested Respondent no. 5/ UGC consolidates all teaching positions at the Center under Plan XII into the Respondent University’s No (maintenance funding) Plan.
In response to the letter of the University respondent, the respondent did not. 5/ UGC in its letter of April 18, 2019, approved the merger of the Plan teaching positions in the Respondent University’s Regular Establishment Budget. Respondent #5/UGC in the letter dated June 25, 2019.
Also clarified that the services of individuals are appointed through an appropriate selection process/committee and that those who meet all educational qualifications and qualifications other than those prescribed at the time and whose appointment has been approved by statutory bodies, “may” be incorporated into the regular organizational budget of the respondent’s university.
Following this provision, the Jamia Teachers Association (abbreviated as “JTA”) of Jamia Millia Islamia in a letter dated June 7, 2019, asked the UGC for clarification whether the consolidation of articles means that the services of these incumbents are confirmed or their services terminated and articles re-promoted.
This was the case of the Applicant, as no response was received, and based on the letter of approval from the UGC, she requested a blank letter from the Applicant’s University on June 26, 2019, to confirm receiving your services.
The respondent university, instead of regulating the applicant’s services as a director, initiated a disciplinary investigation into the applicant, and in this regard, a notice justifying on June 28, 2019, was issued, and after two days i.e. July 1, 2019, there was no respondent’s name 3 as a full professor at the Center, which is the director position occupied by the applicant.
It is the position of the Applicant that she has denied the charges against her, in her response dated July 4, 2019. The University is expected to drop the charges and formalize its services as a shield against the court.
“This Court finds that the said application is merely an attempt to circumvent the prior order issued by this Court, which is a consent order, and therefore, this Court has no reason to consider the present application and was dismissed,” the order noted by the court.
The judges said Jamia could take appropriate legal action and file a new lawsuit if UGC owes the money.
Jamia has filed a request in a pending petition by a professor acting as director of the Sarojini Naidu Center. The professor asked for his salary.
The university said her salary could not be paid because UGC had not yet provided aid under the regular budget or the “Development of Women’s Studies in Indian Universities”.
He, therefore, asked the Court to order the release of funds amounting to almost ₹6 crores.
However, the Court asked the lawyer representing the University whether the Vice-Chancellor, the Director of Registration, and other officials received their salaries. The lawyer replied in the affirmative.
Chief Justice Sharma then commented that if this was the case, the university could either sell its property and pay the professor, or the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar should stop taking their salaries and pay them upfront for teachers.
The bench further noted that at the prior hearing, Jamia made an emphatic statement that she would pay all unpaid fees to the claimant’s professor, and a guarantee was also given found out that she would also receive her regular monthly payments.
Lead lawyer Ajit Kumar Sinha as well as lawyers Srijan Sinha, Parul Dhurvey, and Naveen Soni appeared on behalf of the claimant professor by using the court as a shield.
Jamia is represented by attorneys Pritish Sabharwal and Sanjeet Kumar.
Lawyers BK Singh, Urvi Kashiwal, and Hardik Ahluwalia appeared for UGC.
