BJP makes serious allegations on Guv’s powers being curtailed

Ashish Shelar, BJP leader

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made serious allegations against the Shiv Sena-led government for curtailing the governor's powers to appoint vice chancellors. It said the kitchen cabinet of the Yuva Sena will make new appointments and the appointees will be used to grab the land of the Mumbai university campus.

"Do they want to make persons like Sachin Waze the vice chancellors? Will such persons sign the degree certificates?" asked BJP legislator Ashish Shelar at a media conference on Thursday. He said the Uddhav Thackeray government does not approve of a provision of having search committees comprising retired supreme/high court judges, academicians, Padma awardees and secretary of the higher and technical education department to select five VC nominees.

"As per the change, the government will decide the search committee and also recommend two names from five picked by the committee. The governor is expected to appoint any of the two nominees of the state. This clearly means politically that the Yuva Sena's kitchen cabinet will decide the names," said Shelar. He accused the government of splurging the money meant for academics on the ministers' offices where some professors work and draw their salaries from the university.

He alleged that the government has been eyeing the costly land of Mumbai University. "The university law has been changed to grab the land. The land is being given for slum rehabilitation and institutes that aren't even registered. Favourable persons will be made VCs to facilitate land grabs," Shelar said, adding that the BJP's Yuva Morcha will start a campaign to save universities.

Minister at Karan Johar's ‘Covid' party?

Shelar accused the local authorities of removing certain names, including a state cabinet minister, from the celebrity list of a party hosted by director-producer Karan Johar, which courted controversy after some guests tested positive for Covid-19. He said he asked the BMC to furnish the names of the guests who were traced and tested. "Civic officers say that as per the infected persons, only eight guests attended the party at Johar's residence. But when I probed further, it appears that there was some confusion over the different versions the guests gave to the BMC."

Shelar said the BMC hasn't told him about the verification of the CCTV footage of the building. "The suspicion is increasing further. The confusion raises a question about the presence of a cabinet minister. The BMC should make the CCTV footage public. Some party guests haven't been tested at the BMC facility but picked a private lab," he said.