Plea against MU alleging bias rejected

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has rejected former ACP Sarjerao Shinde’s petition that he was refused the opportunity to pursue a doctorate in law due to the authorities’ bias against him. After the authorities informed the court that Shinde’s application was rejected because the marks secured by him at the Ph.D. oral interview stage were lesser than the cut-off, the court rejected the petition.

A division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Anuja Prabhudessai was hearing retired ACP Shinde’s writ petition. Shinde argued that the rejection was due to a bias against him and hence, sought directions to the authorities.

However, the university informed the court that the procedure for admission to the Ph.D. course had been duly followed. The varsity even submitted the results of the oral interview conducted by a panel headed by the retired Chief Justice of the Calcutta high court and six other persons.

After perusing the results, the bench said, “Perusal of the same reveals that the petitioner was not qualified as he did not obtain the minimum marks set out as benchmark and hence, he was not selected. We do not find any material in support of the allegation of bias against the petitioner. The petition is devoid of any merit and the same is, accordingly, dismissed.”