The Patna High Court on Thursday quashed the appointment of 12 principals in colleges under Magadh University, Bodhgaya.

A single bench of Justice A.K. Tripathi passed the order on a writ petition filed by Dr Bimal Prasad Singh and others, who contended that none of the 12 appointees was qualified enough and alleged that the appointments were made clandestinely in violation of the university rules and the approved reservation roster.

In his order, Justice Tripathi stated: "The respondents, who have been selected and appointed to the post of principals, shall cease and desist from performing their duty as principals of the respective colleges where they are posted, forthwith. The vice-chancellor of the university is directed to ensure they do not continue to perform duties as principals from today (Thursday)."?

He added: "Let a copy of this judgment be forwarded to the chancellor of universities of Bihar for his knowledge and for remedial measures to improve the working of the universities and to identify the black sheep." A leopard never changes its spots nor do white-collar criminals, who are masquerading as "educationists" in Magadh University, the court said.

The university has faced corruption charges for a long time. All the appointments were made in 2012.

In 2013, then Governor D.Y. Patil, on the recommendation of the state government, had ordered an inquiry into the appointments. According to the complaint received by Patil challenging the validity of the appointments, all kinds of irregularities, including nomination of experts from outside the approved list of the academic council and violation of the reservation roster were committed in the highly secretive selection process. Patil had set up a committee headed by retired bureaucrat B.B. Lal to conduct an inquiry. The committee's report had confirmed malpractice in the appointments and also identified perpetrators of the scam.

In September 2014, appointments of 22 principals were set aside by the high court on similar grounds. On April 8 this year, the high court had ordered a vigilance probe into the appointment of the 12 principals. That report was submitted to the court on May 19.

Ordering vigilance probe, the court had observed: "This court fails to understand as to why decisions cannot be taken with dispassion and honesty in matters of appointment on a public post."

The petition said that one of the appointees had been chargesheeted by the police in a molestation case. Allegations of financial bungling, including submission of false travel allowance bills, have been levelled against another appointee.

The vigilance bureau had in June this year arrested officiating vice-chancellor Arun Kumar over irregularities in the appointment process.