CAT stays Admn order giving charge of Principal of Chandigarh College of Architecture to Kapil Setia
Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Chandigarh, July 22
The Chandigarh Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) today stayed the operation of an order, vide which additional charge of the Principal of the Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA) given to Prof Sangeeta Bagga was withdrawn and assigned to UT Chief Architect Kapil Setia on an interim basis.
Principal’s post at Chandigarh College of Architecture
Bone of contention
- On July 19, additional charge of Principal of Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA) withdrawn from Prof Sangeeta Bagga and assigned to UT Chief Architect Kapil Setia
- Terming the order ‘illegal and arbitrary’, Prof Bagga asks Central Administrative Tribunal to quash it
- She also seeks issuance of directions to allow her to continue as the Principal till a regular appointment to the post is made, as she is the senior-most professor with PhD and eligible to hold the post
The tribunal also issued a notice to the Chandigarh Administration on Prof Bagga’s application filed through counsel Rohit Seth. Prof Bagga had prayed for quashing the order issued by the UT Administrator while terming it as ‘illegal and arbitrary’. She also sought issuance of directions to allow her to continue as the Principal till a regular appointment was made, as she was the senior-most professor with PhD and eligible to hold the post. She further sought directions to the respondents to fill the Principal’s post on a permanent basis in a time-bound manner.
Appearing on Bagga’s behalf, Seth contended that the applicant was given the additional charge of the CCA Principal on September 21, 2017. He alleged that vague and frivolous complaints were made against her in the past. After an inquiry, a speaking order dated July 26, 2017, was passed by the Secretary, Technical Education. Among other things, it stated that a special committee recommended filing those complaints as it found no merit in the whole issue.
Prof Bagga submitted that the issue of seniority was also duly settled by the Administration and attained finality as she was the only professor holding mandatory PhD qualification. She was given the additional charge of the Principal by the administration for being the senior-most faculty in the CCA. She alleged that some faculty members again made baseless complaints against her.
“Now, vide punitive order dated July 19, the charge of the CCA Principal has been taken away from the applicant, undoubtedly on the basis of false and frivolous complaints filed by vested interest or maneuvered by them, without holding any inquiry into the same by associating the applicant. Only internal inquiry seems to have been undertaken at the ‘back’ of the applicant,” the application stated.
The applicant added that action was required to be taken against employees making repeated complaints on the same subjects.
“Being a graduate, the incumbent, who has been given the charge, Kapil Setia, is not qualified for the post and by no means in the line of hierarchy under any rule or instructions,” she submitted.
The tribunal was told that PhD qualification was a must, apart from other requirements, under the rules of any college of architecture or draft rules of the CCA. No other senior person was serving in the college as professor to lay claim on the post. The action amounted to reviewing the earlier orders vide which the charge of the Principal’s post was given to applicant. Her sudden removal after five years in the manner it has been done was punitive, more so as the applicant was left with 12 years of service as on date.
UT senior standing counsel Anil Mehta appeared for administration.
After hearing the rival contentions, the tribunal stayed the order and adjourned the case to July 28.
