More than half of co-opted BoS members declared ineligible by the Governor
3 Jul, 2013
The Governor of Maharashtra and Chancellor of Universities in Maharashtra has declared 10 out of 19 members co-opted across various Board of Studies (BoS) in the state.
The main functions of a BoS include designing curriculum, recommending exam paper-setter, short listing examiners and selecting deans. The appointment of post-graduate teachers in the BoS is regulated by Section 37(3)(a) of the Maharashtra Universities Act, 1994. One member in each BoS can be co-opted by the chairman. However, the reply to an application filed by senior faculty members of the university under the Right to Information (RTI) Act revealed that some of the teachers co-opted to BoS as post-graduate faculty didn’t belong to colleges with post graduate facility in that particular subject. The faculty members then moved the court against the university authorities and the co-opted members alleging that they were not qualified for the post.
The Bombay High Court asked the Governor of the state to interpret the universities act and decide accordingly. The governor then conducted a hearing and thereafter declared 10 out of 19 co-opted teachers in question as ineligible.