The Maharashtra government has told the Bombay High Court that the Mumbai University Senate elections were stayed “in the interest of justice”.
An affidavit was filed by the Higher and Technical Education Department of the government in response to a petition by advocate Sagar Devre challenging the university’s decision to suspend the senate elections in September alleging it was done due to “political pressure”.
Devre had sought quashing of the circular issued by the university on August 17 deferring the elections, which were to be held on September 10.
According to the circular, “the election process was supposed to be completed by September 30, 2023”, reads the affidavit by Ajit Bawiskar, deputy secretary to the department. Hence, it said the petition is liable to be dismissed.
Senate elections were deferred following a letter from BJP MLA
The senate elections were deferred following a letter from BJP MLA Ashish Shelar pointing out "various discrepancies" in voters list.
Taking into consideration the “seriousness of the matter”, the government directed the university to “inquire and take necessary steps”. Hence immediate steps were taken to conduct the inquiry and submit the report forthwith.
Since it is “impractical to verify the documents within a day” and time was required to conduct detailed inquiry, the university “sought guidance” from government whether to continue with the election process or not.
“I say that in the light of the aforesaid considering the seriousness of the matter and for maintaining sanctity of election, our office informed the Respondent No 3 (university) that it is necessary to scrutinise the documents of all the voters and prepare revised voters list before conducting Senate Election,” the affidavit adds.
Hence the university was asked to postpone the elections pending inquiry and verification of the voters' documents.
Empowered to issue a direction to the university: Maha govt
The government has said that under Section 8(7) of the Maharashtra Public University Act, 2016, it is empowered to issue a direction to the university. Hence, the government issued directions to the university “in the interest of maintaining the sanctity of the election process”.
“The verification of the voters is necessary or else it will result in depriving the rights of the genuine voters. Likewise, if the Senate election is conducted without verifying the voters' documents then it will result in multiplicity of proceedings and will defeat the purpose of Senate Election,” the affidavit added.
The petition is listed for hearing on Monday before a bench headed by Justice Nitin Jamdar.
