The Delhi High Court has set aside an order of the Jawaharlal Nehru University appointing a Persian language professor as the chairperson of Linguistic Centre. Justice Suresh Kait directed the Executive Council of JNU to appoint chairperson from the Linguistic Centre itself in accordance with the practice and the law.
The court was hearing a petition by a faculty member, teaching in the Linguistic Centre, contending that as per the practice and rules of the University, chairperson of a centre is to be appointed amongst the professors as per seniority from the centre itself.
In this case, the varsity has proposed to appoint a Persian Centre's professor as chairperson of the Linguistic Centre, petitioner Ayesha Kidwai said.
The judge, after going through the appointments of chairpersons in different centres, said: "I find that all the chairpersons are appointed from the same centres itself, whereas the respondent number 3 (professor) is from the Persian Centre and is appointed chairperson of the Linguistic Centre to which the petitioner belongs."
JNU's counsel submitted that under the Department of Languages there are 12 centres, including the Linguistic Centre. Prof. Kidwai and the other professor are from the same school of languages but different centres, the counsel said.
It claimed that the petition was pre-mature as the Professor Mazhar Asif was appointed as chairperson of the Linguistic Centre as a temporary arrangement which has to be ratified by the Executive Council in its meeting.
JNU passed an order on July 18, appointing Asif as the chairperson of the Linguistic Centre, despite not belonging to this centre. He is already the chairperson of Persian and Central Asian Studies and is junior to the petitioner in terms of date of appointment, the petition said.
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