Mahadev MG’s appointment as NUALS Registrar challenged

The plea argues that the Registrar is drawing the pay scale as notified by the UGC despite not having the required qualification.

A lawyer has approached the Kerala High Court with a public interest litigation (PIL) petition challenging the appointment of Mahadev MG as the Registrar of the National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS), Kerala, Bar and Bench reported. 

The plea was moved by advocate Sanjai D Rajan who claims to be an advocate from Thiruvananthapuram with over 15 years experience at the Bar and enrolled with the Bar Council of Kerala. He further claimed to be a public spirited person who is on a crusade to improve the standards of legal education in India. 

Rajan’s plea contended that the appointment of Mahadev as Registrar of the National Law University was done in violation of the University Grants Commission (UGC) Regulations and mandates. 

It is pointed out that NUALS Regulations, 2006 says that the minimum qualification for direct recruitment to the post of Registrar is three years of administrative experience. However, as per a 1998 UGC notification on minimum qualification for appointment of teachers in universities and colleges, the minimum qualification is 15 years of administrative experience out of which eight years of experience must be as Deputy Registrar. 

Therefore, the provision of the NUALS Regulations in this regard is contended to be per se illegal and unsustainable in law. As far as the appointment of Mahadev is concerned, it is argued that he does not meet the criteria set out by the UGC. 

It is further pointed out that NUALS is accepting grants from the UGC and that Mahadev is drawing the pay scale as notified by the UGC, in spite of not having the necessary qualifications required by the UGC itself. Therefore, Rajan moved the High Court seeking a writ of quo warranto to quash the Mahadev's appointment as Registrar of NUALS. 

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