HYDERABAD: Secunderabad MP and former Union minister Bandaru Dattatreya has been nominated by Lok Sabha Speaker as one of the members of Court of University of Hyderabad. It may be mentioned here that the BJP MP is one of the accused in the police case registered under Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the suicide case of Dalit PhD scholar, Rohith Vemula on the UoH campus in January 2016.
As per a notification of the university issued on March 27, the Lok Sabha Speaker nominated three people including Dattatreya to the Court of the University under Statue10(A)(xv) of the University. Apart from the BJP MP, two other MPs have also been nominated, including, Dr Gokaraju Ganga Raju, BJP MP from Narsapuram, Andhra Pradesh and Konda Vishweshar Reddy, MP from Chevella in Telangana.
As per the Central Universities Act, 2009, the Court has powers which include, review broad policies and programmes of the university and to suggest measures for improvement and development of university; to consider and pass resolutions on annual report and annual accounts of the university and audit reports of the accounts and to advise Visitor in respect of any manner.
Court of the University has Vice Chancellor as its chairperson, Registrar as its Member Secretary and has all Professors, Deans, Head of Departments from the university as its members apart from nominated persons.
What the law says
As per the University of Hyderabad Act 12, members of the Court form a quorum for a meeting of the Court. Three MPs are also nominated to be the Court members, which is the case in other Central Universities as well