Telangana High Court Mahesh Mamindla vs The State Of Telangana on 11 August, 2022 HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE K. LAKSHMAN WRIT PETITION No.22610 OF 2022 ORDER: Heard Mr. N. Ramchandar Rao, learned Senior Counsel representing Mr. M. Giri, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Government Pleader for Education appearing for respondent No.1 and Mr. P. Raghuram, learned Senior Counsel representing Mr. A. Kranti Kumar Reddy, learned counsel appearing for respondent Nos.2 and 3. 2. This writ petition is filed to declare the nomination of Prof. Upendra Baxi by the Academic Council of the NALSAR University as illegal, and a consequential direction is sought to direct the University to constitute the Academic Council in strict compliance of the provisions of the NALSAR University Act and only then shall nominate a Member in the Search Committee. 3. FACTS OF THE CASE: i) The petitioner herein is a practicing Advocate. He is an RTI Activist. ii) According to him, he is trying to bring transparency in the functioning of respondent No.3 NALSAR University, especially in appointment of faculty and staff. 2 KL,J W.P. No.22610 of 2022 iii) The petitioner has filed several applications under the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005 (for short 'RTI Act, 2005') seeking certain information regarding appointments by the University and the said University is reluctant to furnish the said information. iv) Selection Process for the post of the ViceChancellor is prescribed under Section 17 of the NALSAR University Act, 2010 (for short 'Act, 2010'). The process requires formation of a Search Committee of ThreeMembers which shall shortlist the candidates and forward a list of three candidates to the Chancellor for the final decision. v) The Search Committee, according to Section 17 (iii) of the Act, 2010 consists of three members of whom one shall be nominated by the Academic Council of respondent No.3 University, one by the Chairman University Grant Commission and one by the Chancellor. vi) The Composition of the Academic Council is provided in Section 13 of the Act, 2010 and it says that apart from external members, the Council shall consist of all Heads of the Departments of the University and all the Professors other than the Heads of the 3 KL,J W.P. No.22610 of 2022 Departments. In addition to that, one Associate Professor and one Assistant Professor shall be nominated by the Vice Chancellor in order to represent the respective categories of the University. vii) The Academic Council in its meeting held in the month of January, 2022 had nominated Prof. Upendra Baxi as a Member of the Search Committee. The present composition of the Academic Council is in clear violation of the Act, 2010 and it consists of as many as 5 to 6 Associate Professors, including one who is on deputation from another University and also a Professor who had retired from the University about a year ago, and all of them have participated in the nomination of Prof. Upendra Baxi as a Member of the Search Committee. viii) The Academic Council consists of 18 Members as per the University website and 7 to 8 Members of the Council who participated in the nomination of Prof. Upendra Baxi are not eligible to be the Members of the Council as per the Act, 2010. The same makes the nomination of Prof. Upendra Baxi as a Member of the Search Committee absolutely invalid. 4 KL,J W.P. No.22610 of 2022 ix) The nominee of the Academic Council, Prof. Upendra Baxi, has been a visiting faculty in the University and has been conferred honorary doctorate by the NALSAR University in July, 2018. According to Section 17 of the Act, 2010, no employee of the University can be a Member of the Search Committee. Although, Prof. Upendra Baxi is not an employee of the University in strict terms, his close association with the present administration of the University violates the spirit of the provision which is to ensure that justice should not only be done but manifestly seen to be done. x) With the aforesaid submissions, the petitioner sought to declare the nomination of Prof. Upendra Baxi by the Academic Council as illegal, and for a consequential direction is sought to the University to constitute Academic Council in strict compliance with the provisions of Act, 2010, and only th