Times of India: Mumbai:Tuesday,
February 12, 2013.
Despite
having an in-house panel of lawyers, the University of Mumbai (MU) spent Rs
4.11 lakh to rope in senior advocates to defend the appointment of its
vice-chancellor (VC).
A query filed
by Anil Galgali under the RTI Act,revealed that the university hired senior
advocates to fight the cases challenging the V-C's job. The university had
hired senior advocates Rafique A Dada- known for fighting tricky cases- Naushad
R Engineer and Sagar G Talekar.
MU's finance
and accounts' PIO A R Jadhav said the varsity had paid Rs 4,10,900 to the three
lawyers. MU legal adviser Ajit Karwande received a letter from advocate R A
Rodrigus on July 11, 2011, with bills that needed to be settled: professional
charges of Dada (Rs 3,30,900), Engineer (Rs 45,000) and Talekar (Rs 35,000).
Karwande
submitted it to the accounts' department on August 2, 2011, and clearly said
the aforesaid advocates were not on the MU panel. "These advocates were
appointed specifically and specially to look after writ petitions no. 1901 of
2010, PIL no. 96 of 2010 and PIL no. 92 of 2010," said Galgali. V-C Rajan
Welukar and in-charge registrar signed the cheques on August 3, added Galgali.
In 2011, Dada
attended the court on June 16 and July 7, while Engineer on June 15 and 16, Feb
24 and March 10 (for which he has not charged yet).Galgali has written to MU
chancellor K Sankarnarayanan, asking his office to recover the spent money from
the vice-chancellor's salary.
Galgali was
earlier denied information by the university and the first appellate authority.
He then filed a second appeal with the CIC of Maharashtra, which is still
pending. Meanwhile, he submitted a fresh application and received the
information.
The
University of Mumbai spent Rs 4.11 lakh to defend the appointment of its chief.
An RTI query
revealed that the university hired a panel of senior advocates for the legal
battle. Activist Anil Galgali filed an RTI with the university and found that
that it spent Rs 4.11 lakh on hiring senior advocate Rafique A Dada, known to
have fought tricky cases; Naushad R Engineer and advocate Sagar G Talekar.
The
university's finance and accounts' PIO A R Jadhav said that the university paid
Rs 4,10,900 to the three advocates. MU legal adviser Ajit Karwande received a
letter from advocate R A Rodrigus on July 11, 2011 with bills that needed to be
settled __ professional charges of R A Dada (Rs 3,30,900), Naushad R Engineer
(Rs 45,000) and of Sagar G Talekar (Rs 35000).
Karwande
submitted the same to the accounts' department on August 2, 2011 and clearly
said that the aforesaid advocates are not on the panel of the MU, in the RTI.
"These advocates were appointed by the university specifically and
specially to look after the writ petitions no 1901 of 2010 and PIL no 96 of
2010 and PIL no 92 of 2010," said Galgali. On August 3, the vice
chancellor Rajan Welukar and in-charge registrar signed the cheque on the same
date, added Galgali.
Advocate Dada
attended the court on June 16, 2011 and on July 7, 2011. Advocate Engineer
appeared on June 15 and 16 2011 again on February 24, 2011 and March 10, 2011
(for which he has not charged anything yet).
Galgali who
wrote to the university chancellor K Shankarnarayanan said he wanted his office
to recover the legal expenses spent from the vice chancellor's salary.
The
university has earlier denied this information by the university and the first
appellate authority. Galgali filed a second appeal with the CIC of Maharastra.
While his plea is still pending with the CIC, he submitted a fresh application
with the university and received the information.
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