Mumbai: The Bombay high court (HC) has allowed all state universities to get their annual budgets approved before the upcoming Lok Sabha (LS) election from the Maharashtra government.
In an interim order, the high court put a stay on the government directive to defer universities senate budget meetings slated for this month to avoid model code of conduct.
A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice M.S. Sanklecha was hearing a petition filed by three elected senate members, Bageshree Manthalkar, Neel Halekar and Nilesh Thakre who are also members of the Vidyapeeth Vikas Manch, a forum floated by Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student organisation affiliated to the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).
The three members were from Savitribai Phule Pune University, Mumbai University and Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Women's University.
The petitioners have challenged the state’s decision, arguing that delaying budget approval would affect students. “Many academic activities are required to be started before the start of the academic year and non-sanction of the budget will adversely affect academic interests of students at large,” the petition stated.
“In any case, it is inconceivable that there can be any influence on voters due to the senate meeting when holding such a meeting is a statutory requirement,” the
petition further stated.
