Gauhati High Court quashes Assam University VC Rajive Mohan Pant's appointment

The Gauhati High Court has set aside the appointment of Rajive Mohan Pant as Vice-Chancellor of Assam University, the central university in Silchar, ruling that he did not have the ten years of senior academic experience required by the University Grants Commission's 2018 regulations. The order was passed on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, on a petition filed by Dr Samira Behera, and was reported from October 16 to 17. The court quashed the January 14, 2022 communication that appointed him, asked the appointing authority to hand interim charge to an eligible person from within the university, and ordered a fresh selection. The university says it is waiting for a certified copy of the order and for directions from the Union Ministry of Education before it acts.

The vice-chancellor is the academic and administrative head of a university. The UGC's 2018 regulations try to make sure that the person in that chair has deep experience of running teaching and research. They set a minimum of ten years of senior academic experience for the post. The point of the rule is simple: someone who will lead deans, heads of department and thousands of students should have done senior academic work for a long period first.

This ruling turns on how that experience is counted. Pant had served as a professor at the North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST) and later as a director at the National Institute of Rural Development. The court held that these two stretches could not be combined to meet the requirement, and that they did not reach ten years in any case. That reading matters well beyond Silchar, because candidates for vice-chancellor posts across India often come from mixed careers in universities, research bodies and government institutes.

The court also pointed at the search-cum-selection committee, the panel that shortlists names for the appointing authority. It found that the committee had not adequately verified and documented whether the candidate was eligible before recommending him. For central universities, this is a reminder that the paperwork behind a selection can be tested in court years later.

The court also avoided adding hardship: it did not order Pant to repay the pay he received over nearly five years in office.

Short-term: Assam University has to arrange for an eligible senior member of the university to hold charge while the order is examined. The registrar, Pradosh Kiran Nath, has said the university will wait for the certified copy and for the Education Ministry's directions, and that the ministry or Pant could choose to challenge the verdict before a higher court. Until that is settled, decisions on administration, exams and appointments may slow down.

Long-term: If the order stands, the ministry must run a fresh selection within the time set by the court. Other universities and selection committees are likely to read the ruling closely, since it says experience in different roles cannot simply be added up to meet the ten-year mark, and that committees must record how a candidate qualifies.

Who is affected: Students, teachers and staff of Assam University; Rajive Mohan Pant; the Union Ministry of Education and the search panels it sets up; and candidates who hope to lead central universities in future.

Rule at issue | What the court said

Ten years of senior academic experience (UGC Regulations, 2018) | Not met

Adding NERIST and NIRD service together | Not allowed, and still short of ten years

Selection committee's checks | Eligibility not properly verified or recorded

Salary already paid | Will not be recovered

Next step | Interim charge, then fresh selection within four months of the certified order

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