NEW DELHI: The HRD Ministry will again seek a legal opinion soon on the decision to sack Visva-Bharati Vice-Chancellor Sushanta Dattagupta, after the President sent back a proposal for his removal.
President Pranab Mukherjee refused to take any decision on the grounds that the Vice-Chancellor wasn’t given a hearing by the probe panel which looked into charges of financial and administrative irregularities against him.
In September the President returned the file to the ministry to seek legal views as it would be the first time a central university V-C has been removed from his post. While the ministry had sent back the file to the President along with legal opinion, the President was unconvinced.
Charges against Duttagupta included drawing salary from Visva-Bharati and pension from Jawaharlal Nehru University simultaneously in alleged violation of law.
Though the Central university laws do not provide for the sacking of a V-C, the President can invoke Section 16 of the General Clauses Act, 1987, to remove him.