The Magadh University has seized the financial power of principals of 22 colleges under it after Patna High Court set aside their appointments on Friday.

The single bench of Justice Shivjee Pandey passed the order. Justice Pandey directed the Magadh University vice-chancellor to make fresh appointments within six months. The incumbents can continue to hold office till fresh appointments are made, the court ordered. However, they cannot take any policy decision or financial decisions and will only engage in routine work, the court said on Friday.

After the court passed the order, vice-chancellor Mohammad Ishtiyaque chaired a meeting that decided the principals could continue to discharge routine work without any financial powers till further orders. Efforts to contact the vice-chancellor and the registrar failed as Ishtiyaque did not take the call and the registrar’s mobile phone was switched off.

Former vice-chancellor Arun Kumar had appointed principals in 22 out of 44 colleges under the university in two phases. But two aspirants, Vimal Kumar Singh and Narendra Kumar, challenged these appointments and a case was lodged in Patna High Court. State counsel Prashant Pratap said the university had advertised 22 posts of principals on October 25, 2008, against which it received 351 applications. The selection committee interviewed all candidates in February 2009 and finally appointed 27 principals. Later, five more posts of principal were advertised and filled up with the extra appointments. However, all these appointments were challenged in the high court in December 2009 alleging irregularities.

The single bench of the Patna High Court, presided by Justice Jaya Nandan Singh, quashed the appointments in January 2011. It directed the state government and the university administration to go for fresh appointments after advertising the vacancies. The court ordered that the interview of all candidates (for the post of principal) be recorded on video and even the marks the selection committee awards be shown in the video.

On July 12, 2012, the state appointed principals at 22 constituent colleges of the university. But aspirant Arun Kumar Sinha challenged these appointments in the high court in 2012 alleging the selection was done in “mala fide manner”, “arbitrarily” and “on extraneous consideration”.