In a major setback to Bangalore University Registrar B C Mylarappa, the High Court on Wednesday quashed his appointment with immediate effect and also refused to stay its order even for a day.
Hearing a petition filed by one P M Parameshwara Murthy and four others, a Division Bench headed by Justice N Kumar came down heavily on the state government for not looking into the report submitted by an expert panel which had indicted Mylarappa for “committing plagiarism in his own thesis” and appointing him as registrar.
“The post of registrar is a crucial one and the government has not considered the panel’s recommendations while appointing him,” Justice Kumar said.
In a judgment read out for one and a half hours, he observed, “When a three-member committee of experts recorded categorical findings, and the findings clearly showed not only he has encouraged, colluded, connived with his student in plagiarism, his thesis itself is a result of plagiarism, and such persons are holding the post of a registrar, which is a chief executive post in the university, then who is expected to take action against such persons?” He further said, “In the interest of the students and maintaining standards, such persons should not be allowed to continue in the said post.”
The Bench observed, “The government has not performed its duty of considering all relevant material in so far as Mylarappa is concerned, certainly it has not applied its mind, and the appointment made by it is arbitrary, violates Article 14 and is liable to be quashed.”
“The state has not looked into the aspect that an FIR was registered against him in the jurisdictional police station; a note was prepared seeking a COD inquiry against him.The aspect of three-member committee findings of him colluding with his student and giving consent to lift 100 pages from his thesis has also not been looked into.”
The petitioners had said Mylarappa was not qualified to become a lecturer in the university, and “he is an usurper of a public office”.
He was guilty of several acts of commission and omission, indulged in plagiarism and was indicted by the Irniraya Commission.
Mylarappa contested the Assembly elections when a case against him was in Supreme Court and he was in service, in violation of rules, they added.