The Supreme Court upheld Naima Khatoon’s appointment as AMU’s first woman Vice-Chancellor, dismissing a challenge over alleged conflict of interest. The Allahabad High Court had earlier cleared her selection.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition that had challenged the appointment of Professor Naima Khatoon as the first woman Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
The case was heard by a bench of Justice J K Maheshwari and Justice Vijay Bishnoi. The judges refused to interfere with the decision and said that the appointment of Professor Khatoon was already approved by the Allahabad High Court earlier this year.
The petition was filed by two professors, Muzaffar Uruj Rabbani and Faizan Mustafa. They argued that her appointment was unfair because her husband, Professor Mohd Gulrez, who was at that time the officiating Vice-Chancellor of AMU, had presided over the meeting of the Executive Council and University Court.
This meeting had recommended Professor Khatoon’s name in the panel that was later sent to the Visitor for approval.
The matter had first come before a different bench of the Supreme Court that included Chief Justice of India B R Gavai, Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice N V Anjaria. During that hearing, Justice Chandran stepped aside from the case.
He explained his reason by saying,
“as the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, he was involved in the appointment of one of the petitioners, Mustafa, as the Vice Chancellor of Chanakya National Law University, Patna.”
With this decision, the Supreme Court has cleared the way for Professor Naima Khatoon to continue in her role as the first woman Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, marking an important step in the institution’s history.
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