Mumbai: A petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court challenging the circular of the University of Mumbai (MU) suspending the ongoing Senate elections alleging the act is totally “illegal, bad-in-law and perverse” and that the same has been done due to “political pressure”.
The petition filed by advocate Sagar Devre has sought that the circular issued by the MU staying the senate elections be set aside and the university be directed to take immediate steps to commence and complete the election program scheduled on September 10.
Devre is likely to mention the petition for urgent hearing before a bench headed by Justice Sunil Shukre.
Last senate elections held on March 26 2018
On August 9, Vice Chancellor (VC), chancellor and Registrar issued an election notification and announced the 'senate elections' of the University of Mumbai for 10 seats of the Graduate Constituency. The last date for filing of the nominations was August 18. Suddenly, due to the political pressure, the MU released a circular on August 17 staying the senate election for indefinite period which was scheduled on September 10.
According to the plea, the last senate elections were held on March 26, 2018 and the tenure of the same was till September 30, 2022. The MU started the process of senateelections in June 2022. The final electoral roll was published on July 27, 2023.
On August 9, a corrected final electoral roll containing 94, 613 voters was published after rectifying duplicate voters. The same day, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar raised objections on the electoral roll and wrote a letter to the education minister.
On August 17, the deputy secretary, Higher and Technical Education Department instructed MU to inquire into Shelar’s objections. MU contended that the inquiry can not be conducted in a day and hence issued a notification staying the senate elections.
Plea states: Stay of the elections based on letter of Ashish Shelar is not tenable
Devre has contended that Shelar did not raise objections before the registrar or before the VC as per the Uniform Statues 2017. “Therefore the voters’ list was final and not challengeable. Hence, objections taken by MLA Ashish Shelar were liable to be discarded. Therefore, the stay of the elections based on this letter of Ashish Shelar is not tenable,” reads the plea.
State government has framed clear guidelines regarding the Senate elections under the provisions of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016 and Uniform Statutes 2017. No one can upset the substantive provisions of the Act or the regulations and the election program must be held in accordance with the governing statutes and not otherwise. It is settled law that after initiation of the election process, it shall not be interfered, said Devre.
The plea prays that the HC set aside the MU circular and pending hearing, direct the university to go ahead with the scheduled senate elections.
August 9
MU issued election notification elections for 10 seats of Graduate Constituency on Sept 10
August 17
MU released a circular staying the senate election for indefinite period
March 26, 2018
Last senate elections were held
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