Date:

To,
Justice Rajendra Menon,
Hon’ble Chief Justice,
Patna High Court

Subject: Urgent intervention regarding the extension of tenure of the outgoing Vice Chancellor
and appointment of the new Vice Chancellor of Chanakya National Law University.

Respected Sir,

We, the students of the Chanakya National Law University, Patna (hereinafter referred to as the
“University”), a university established under Act 24 of 2006 of the state legislature of Bihar, are
writing to you to put forth our grievances relating to two threatening situations our university is
currently facing. Firstly, the gross actions and inactions of Prof. Dr. A. Lakshminath and his
administration. Secondly, current unfortunate developments in the VC appointment episode,
there have been plethora of gray areas which remained unexplored. These issues not only raise
questions on the credibility of the so called "Popular choice" of the search committee but also on
the credibility of the appointing committee of the same.
THE TENURE OF OUR FORMER VC PROF. DR. A. LAKSHMINATH HAS BEEN FAR FROM
IMMACULATE. STUDENTS HAVE BEEN PERSISTENTLY MISMANAGED DURING HIS TENURE.
HENCEFORTH, THE STUDENTS OF CNLU DO NOT REPOSE ANY FAITH IN HIS
ADMINISTRATION AND IS BLATANTLY AGAINST HIS EXTENSION OF HIS TENURE IN ANY
ACADEMIC, ADMINISTRATIVE OR RELATED POSTS.

The former VC Prof. Dr. A. Lakshminath was appointed at the inception of the University as the
Vice Chancellor and has held the post ever since. It is undisputed that he is a rare combination of
an erudite scholar, a relentless researcher and a revered teacher in the legal community which
gave enough hopes to the institution for its progress. However, it is immensely unfortunate that
the contrary turned out to be true and he failed to be an able administrator.
During his tenure of twelve years commencing from June 2006 and culminating in March 2018,
the University has not witnessed any affirmative action on his part with respect to academic, co-
curricular, infrastructural, or administrative matters. In the capacity of a Vice Chancellor inaction
is equivalent to incompetence owing to which CNLU as an institution has suffered continually.
The students of the University have thus lost confidence in him and do not want him to continue
in the same or in any other capacity in future.
In furtherance of above, we are enumerating the reasons behind our demand:
1. LACK OF PERMANENT AND QUALITY FACULTY
CNLU has had a culture of Ad-hocism. Most of the faculties in CNLU are employed on
contract basis and hence, there is always a lack of stability and quality education. There is
no particularly designated subject to any faculty and they are expected to compromise as
per situation.
2. ACADEMIC STAGNATION AND MALADMINISTRATION

The concerns of the rot in the Administration and the sustained period of stagnation on all
fronts are inextricably linked with the indifferent, callous and hostile atttitude the
students experience in every walk of life at the university. While Prof. Dr. Lakshminath
boasts of state of the art infrastructure, the prevailing atmosphere in the university is of
completely demotivated, demoralized and unhappy students with academics at its lowest
ebb.
3. DISCOURAGING ATTITUDE TOWARDS PLACEMENTS

The administration of CNLU is completely incompetent in bringing placements for the

students. The university has been suffering from dwindling employment opportunities,
due to the approach of the administration which is unsupportive. The students are
perpetually disheartened by the lack of career opportunities.
4. NO INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT
CNLU lacks basic university infrastructural facilities like Auditorium, proper Moot Court
Halls, Conference halls and Wi-Fi facilities. The lack of infrastructure further contributes
to lack of any academic, co-curricular, and cultural activities.
5. INEFFICIENT LIBRARY
The University suffers from qualitative and quantitative issues. The books already in the
library are old and the library lacks latest editions. Moreover, the e-library facilities are
inefficient which further deteriorates the position of students.
 6. NO TRANSPARENCY IN THE ALLOCATION OF FUNDS

There is no proper channel through which the students can know as to where the funds
received by the university are applied owing to issues ranging from the lack of
infrastructural development to hostel management.

7. APPOINTMENT OF NEW REGISTRAR

We also demand that the current registrar Prof.(Dr.) S.P Singh should not continue on the
post of registrar. He is holding this post from the last 10 years and the whole
administration of CNLU has degraded a lot during his tenure. Moreover he is not a
professor of law and holding the post registrar of a national law university is in itself
unjustified. We have all the required evidence for proving his maladministration in the
working of our university.

PROF. (DR.) P. ISHWARA BHAT HAS BEEN SERVING AS THE VICE CHANCELLOR OF WEST
BENGAL NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF JURIDICAL SCIENCES (WBNUJS), KOLKATA TILL DATE
AND WAS UNPOPULAR AMONG THE STUDENTS. DURING HIS TENURE THE CONDITION OF
THE UNIVERSITY HAS DETERIORATED CONSIDERABLY. HIS TENURE IN CNLU IS STATED TO
BEGIN IN THE LATER HALF OF MARCH, 2018.

Prof. Dr. P. Ishwara Bhat is a legal stalwart who has been functioning in the administrative
capacity for a long period of time. During his tenure, instances of administrative frailty,
functional rigidness and curtailment of students’ liberty became prominent. The dissatisfaction
among the students of WBNUJS led to the passing of a couple of no confidence motions against
him. His measures as VC led to his widespread unpopularity among the faculty as well as the
students of the said institution. His administrative tenure is marred with the instance of financial
embezzlement which led to the formation Justice N. N. Mathure Committee.
In furtherance of the above, we would like to highlight some of instances of maladministration
and apathetic attitude of Prof. Ishwara Bhat and his Administration, which have taken place time
and again:
1. ISSUE OF TWO NO-CONFIDENCE MOTION AGAINST PROF. BHAT

The student Juridical Association [SJA] has passed first No-Confidence on –21st
September 2016, under the heads of serious issues regarding transparency, academics,
infrastructure, health and hygiene, inaction on proven financial embezzlement , and
retributive actions to curb student liberties led to utter dissatisfaction and complete loss of
faith in the leadership of the Vice Chancellor. As the demands of the students fell to deaf
ears of the administration second no-confidence motion was passed by the SJA, on 18th
September 2017.

2. IRREGULARITIES IN ACADEMICS MATTERS

In the immediate aftermath, of the change in the leadership in NUJS, a disturbing trend of
attrition was observed. Over past two years, as many as 10 faculties have left NUJS.
Eminent professor, Shamnad Basheer, Founder of Increasing Diversity by Increasing
access to legal education and a ministry of HRD Chaired professor of IPR at NUJS. was
one of the many who fell prey to the “no response policy” of administration. This has led
to the worsening of the academic standard of NUJS. Instances of irrational selection also
came to light during his tenure as less qualified were chosen for the posts. During the said
tenure, Arbitrary application of BCI rules relating to the listing in the number of
compulsory subjects prevailed. Ostensible favoritism were the highlights of his tenure as
professors with prior relation to the VC were chosen for the post of Assistant and
Associate professors.

3. GENDER INSENSITIVITY AND BIAS

Several complaints regarding sexual harassment were made to the VC which were not
dealt with prompt and timely action. The complainants included students as well as staff
of the university. Complaints have always been an inevitable part of his regime regarding
his callous attitude. The residents of the Girls’ Hostel faced an extremely oppressive
atmosphere due to arbitrary and unequally applied disciplinary action.
 4. OPAQUE AND ARBITRARY SELECTION PROCEDURE OF THE NEW VC

It is troubling that the selection committee has appointed a person for the post of Vice
Chancellor of CNLU who is pending decision of a review committee at WBNUJS.
Section 14 of WBNUJS Act (West Bengal Act IX of 1999) provides that the Hon’ble
Chief Justice of India, the Chancellor of WBNUJS, shall constitute, once in every five
years, a statutory University Review Commission to review the working of the university
and make recommendations. No attempt was made on his part to constitute this
committee immediately on his appointment to WBNUJS. Any action in this regard was
taken by him only upon the pressure created by the student body.
The decision of the University Review Committee so formed is pending and any
appointment of such person to a post of high repute is indicative of the arbitrariness and
opaqueness with which the selection committee at CNLU has functioned.
The students of CNLU demand that the procedure for the appointment of new vice
chancellor should begin from the preliminary stage of inviting applications. The students
should be made aware of the procedure, criteria, and actions taken for the appointment of
new Vice Chancellor with absolute transparency.

In light of all these, we implore you to deal with this gross mismanagement on a most urgent
basis and as a matter of utmost importance and urge you to cancel the extension of Prof. Dr. A.
Lakshminath on any post and the appointment of Prof. Ishwara Bhat as the new Vice- Chancellor
of the university. This would ensure that the sanctity and image of CNLU as a National Law
University remains intact and the rights and interests of the students are safeguarded.

Yours sincerely,
Central Working Committee
Save CNLU Movement
(cnluspeaks@gmail.com)