Patna, May 17: The high court today refused to stay the single bench order that quashed the appointment of the vice-chancellors (VCs) of Magadh University (MU), Bodh Gaya, and Veer Kuer Singh University (VKSU), Ara.

On May 4, while quashing the appointments, the court said the chancellor did not follow the mandatory procedure of consulting the state government before appointing MU VC Arvind Kumar and VKSU VC Subhash Prasad Sinha.

The single bench had passed the judgment removing the two VCs while hearing a petition filed by Pramod Kumar Singh, a teacher of SP Jain College, Ara.

While rejecting the interim application for staying the single bench order, a division bench of Justice Shiva Kirti Singh and Justice Ravi Ranjan asked the chancellor to make interim arrangements in the universities.

The court admitted the appeals filed by former VCs of these two universities and asked the parties to complete the pleadings within four months.

Senior advocate Y.V. Giri, who appeared for the chancellor, submitted that the chancellor did consult the state government before making the appointments.

Giri said the chancellor had jotted down the details of his meeting with the officials of human resource development department. He added that chief minister Nitish Kumar had accepted the appointments, though the state administration made a hue and cry over it. The chancellor’s counsel also claimed that there is no prescribed procedure for consulting the state government and it was merely a formality. The chancellor was supposed to play a dominant role in the selection and appointment of VCs.

Refuting the chancellor’s contention, additional advocate-general Lalit Kishore submitted that according to Section 10(2) of Bihar State Universities Act, 1976, consultation is a must, as the state is a cent per cent stakeholder. The state government funds the universities in which the VCs are appointed as chief executive officers. “How can the chancellor make appointments without consulting the state government?” said Kishore.

According to Section 10(2) of the university act, the chancellor should appointment VCs in consultation with the state government.

Kishore also contended that in view of the material brought on record during the hearing before the single bench, it could be suggested that no consultation took place between the chancellor and the state government.

“The court has meticulously gone through the said note of the chancellor, which has been purportedly made with his own pen. The first thing which the court notices is that the note does not have any initial of the minister and it has been incorporated in a file not even related to the question of appointment of VCs to the universities of Bihar much less the universities in question,” the court had noted in its 41-page judgement, while dismissing the appointments.