The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday quashed the appointment of Lokanath N.K. as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mysore.
The court also directed the State government to initiate a fresh process to select a Vice-Chancellor by appointing a search committee by following the procedure prescribed in the Karnataka State Universities Act.
Justice N.S. Sanjay Gowda delivered the verdict while allowing the two petitions, filed by Sharath Ananthamurthy, a professor in the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, and G. Venkatesh Kumar, retired head of the Department of Psychology, University of Mysore. Both were among the contenders for the post of the VC. A copy of the court’s verdict is yet to be released.
The court in June had stayed the appointment of Prof. Lokanath to the post.
It was claimed in the petitions that the search-cum-selection committee, despite recording adverse remarks against Prof. Lokanath in its report on the scrutiny of candidates, had later illegally included his name in the panel of three names recommended for the post.
The Governor, who is the Chancellor of the Universities, acting on the recommendation from the committee, had on March 23, 2023, appointed Prof. Lokanath as the VC even though he was not eligible for consideration for the post, it was complained in the petition.
