Justice Nagesh Bheemapaka of the Telangana High Court on Monday issued notices to the state and the Centre in a writ petition challenging the appointment of Prof V Venkata Ramana as Director of the National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management (NITHM).
The writ petition was filed by the Centre for Better Governance (CBG), which alleged that the appointment of Venkata Ramana is ultra vires the powers vested in the Governing Council under Rule 6(XV) of the Rules and Regulations of NITHM. The petitioner contended that the appointment is arbitrary, illegal, and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.
CBG further sought a direction from the court to set aside the appointment, remove Venkata Ramana from the post and order recovery of the complete pay and allowances drawn by him from NITHM.
After hearing the preliminary submissions of the petitioner, the court issued notices to the respondents and adjourned the matter to December 22 for further hearing.