New Delhi
Supreme Court Judge Justice K.K. Vinod Chandran on Monday separated himself from hearing a petition challenging the appointment of Professor Naima Khatoon as the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). The bench of Chief Justice BR Gavai, Justice Chandran and Justice NV Anjaria was hearing an appeal filed against the Allahabad High Court order by Muzaffar Uruz Rabbani, in which Naima’s appointment was upheld. She is the first woman to hold this position in the history of the institute.
The court was told that Naima became the Vice Chancellor (VC) after getting the important vote of her husband. At that time her husband was the Vice Chancellor of AMU. The petitioner described the vote given by the husband in favor of his wife as “conflict of interest”. The Chief Justice said that ideally the Vice Chancellor should not have participated in the appointment process, but the most senior member of the institute should have been allowed to participate in it.
Justice K. Vinod Chandran separated himself from hearing
However, Justice Chandran offered to separate himself from the case citing his previous role as the Chancellor of a University in a similar selection process. He said, “When I selected Faizan Mustafa, I was the Chancellor of CNLU (Consortium of National La University) … so I can separate myself from the hearing.”
Let Justice Chandran decide- Chief Justice
To this, Salaster General Tushar Mehta said, “We (Justice Chandran) have full faith. There is no need to separate from the hearing. You can make a complete decision.” However, the Chief Justice said, “Let my brother (Justice Chandran) decide. List the matter before the bench which is not a part of Justice Chandran.” This petition will now go before a separate bench. During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer senior advocate Kapil Sibal questioned the validity of the selection process.
