Ajit Ranade to remain Gokhale Institute VC till 7 October: Bombay HC | Mumbai news

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Thursday continued its interim order and directed that the termination order of economist and political analyst Dr Ajit Ranade as the vice-chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) in Pune shall not be brought into effect till October 7.

However, it clarified that senior professor Deepak Shah of the institute, who is given executive powers and assigned daily administrative functions due to the decision to terminate Ranade, can continue to discharge the same duties while the petitioner will remain as VC till further orders.

The high court will hear Ranade’s plea on October 4.

The division bench of justice Mahesh S Sonak and justice Kamal R Khata was hearing a plea by Ranade challenging his termination order on the grounds of violation of principles of natural justice, claiming that no notice was issued to him and no hearing was granted to him before the issuance of the termination order.

Ajit Ranade was appointed as the vice chancellor of Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics in January 2022 and has been a member of its board of management since 2014.

In his petition, he claimed that in 2021 he was invited by the Registrar of Gokhale Institute to apply for the post of Vice Chancellor of the Institute. Ranade claims that he did not see any possible conflict of interest as the board of management has no role in the selection process of the Vice Chancellor of the Institute. Ranade claims that he was shortlisted from a pool of 44 candidates which consisted of a candidate who was the retired deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India and other distinguished people from the field of economics.

In January 2024, Ranade says, the Vice Chancellor’s office received representation from 35 members of staff and faculty regarding the functioning of the Institute which he replied to. Ranade claims that the issues in the representation were mostly as would occur in any university. Ranade further claims, Murali Krishna, an ex-faculty member from the Institute wrote a letter to the University Grants Commission stating that Ranade’s appointment violated eligibility rules requiring a candidate to have at least 10 years of experience as a professor for the post.

In June 2024, Ranade received a show cause notice asking him why his employment as vice chancellor should not be terminated on the grounds of complaints by the staff against him and his appointment against the UGC regulations. After filing a reply to the show cause notice Ranade was put to enquiry by a three-membered panel, he claims, and was issued a stigmatic termination. The demeanour of the enquiry was very hostile to him, alleged Ranade and that he was not given a chance to present his version before the panel.

Ranade claimed that the stigmatic order of termination is in violation of principles of natural justice, as he was not given a proper opportunity to be heard.