The Bombay high court has asked the chancellor of universities of Maharashtra (Governor), the state government and the University Grants Commission (UGC) to file their reply to a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the recent appointments of all vice-chancellors in the state. The division bench of justice DD Sinha and justice AP Bhangale of the Nagpur bench has also directed the 11 universities in the state, including Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Nashik, and Aurangabad, to file their replies within four weeks. Earlier, Sunil Mishra, faculty, Central India Institute of Mass Communication, Nagpur, has filed a PIL seeking scrutiny of the appointments of vice-chancellors in various state universities. Mishra argued that the state government has not followed the UGC guidelines in the selecting the vice chancellors. He has pointed out that as oppose to the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 guidelines the state government amended the VC selection criteria in 2009. The concept of keeping a central body on the selection panel is completely removed.
