Vadodara mayor not a law student: MSU VC

VADODARA: Vadodara mayor Jyoti Pandya is not a student of MS University`s Faculty of Law. MSU vice-chancellor (VC) Ramesh Goyal said this based on a report submitted by an inquiry committee on Wednesday.
The inquiry committee comprised syndicate member Amit Dholakia, professor P M Patel and senate member Ashir Mehta — all three from arts faculty, apart from principal of Godhra-based law college professor Vimal Parmar.
Goyal had appointed the committee on March 23 after replacing the law faculty`s officiating dean Ghanshyam Solanki with an officer on special duty. Solanki was under the scanner after he made the infamous flip-flop in the Pandya admission case in March.
The faculty had cancelled Pandya`s admission in July 2010 after it had came to light that her application had documents related to diploma in homeopathic and medicine and surgery (DHMS) and MA (history), but she had not submitted documents of bachelors` course which is mandatory for getting admission in LLB. Solanki himself had admitted this goof-up. But in March, Solanki wrote a letter to Pandya stating that while her admission in LLB course has been "sustained", he had referred the matter to the Bar Council of India (BCI).
"The committee has said in its report that the dean`s letter (written to mayor) stating that her admission remains sustained is wrong. Such a letter was unwarranted," Goyal said, adding that even in technical terms, Pandya cannot be considered as a regular student of the faculty as she has neither paid the fees nor she has appeared for the exams.
The committee report also points out various flaws in the admission process adopted by Solanki. "Despite existence of equivalence committee at the university level, he did not refer this admission case to the equivalence committee," said Goyal. "Also, he (Solanki) should have consulted the university, which was not done." Interestingly, Goyal insisted that he would pursue the admission matter with the BCI to seek clarification on the matter. "There were lapses, but we cannot say that the admission was illegal," he said.