(1.) I. PREFACE :This petition wass filed by a Professor or H.P University who was in service, at the time when it was filed, in Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. The prayer in the petition is to declare the amendments made by the Himachal Pradesh University (Amendment) Act, 1983 to Himachal Pradesh University Act, 1970 as illegal, ultra vires, prompted by wrong information, based on erroneous presumptions, a fraud on the Legislature, inconsistent with and repugnant to the objects of the principal Act, violative of the basic structure and essential features of the constitution of the University, a source of confusion and contradictions, tending to convert an autonomous institution into an agency or instrumentality of the State, harmful to the public interest, and quash the same. There is also another prayer to declare illegal and ultra vires the amendments in Ss. 8 and 12 of the First Statutes of the University brought in by a notification No. 3-1/76-HPU(Genl)Vol. II, dated 21st November, 1985, being violative of the proviso to S. 39(2) of the principal Act.
(2.) Before referring to the averments contained in this writ petition it is necessary to make mention of two earlier writ petitions filed by the petitioner herein, one of them along with another person. The petitioner tiled CWP No. 851/85 in which he prayed for issue of writ directing the proper and full constitution of the Executive Council of Himachal Pradesh University and restraining the then Executive Council, which according to him was illegally constituted, from acting in violation of the Act, Statutes etc. It is not necessary to refer to the other directions in that writ petition. By judgment dated November 20, 1985 a Division Bench of this Court passed an order directing the Court, the Executive Council and the Academic Council to be constituted in accordance with law on the respective dates on which they were to be constituted according to the assurance held out to the Court on behalf of respondents 1 and 2 therein, namely, the University and Vice Chancellor as recorded therein and directing all acts performed and decisions taken by the interim Executive Council/Executive Council in the intervening period, which did not legitimately fall within the scope of its authority, to be placed for ratification before the respective authorities/ bodies to be duly constituted in accordance with law within a period of two months from the date of the regular constitution of said bodies and directing that till the Court, the Executive Council and the Academic Council were duly constituted in accordance with law, no policy or long-term decisions shall be taken by the Executive Council, the interim Court and the interim Academic Council and that they would be entitled to take appropriate decisions in accordance with law only for the purpose of carrying out day-to-day management and administration of the University. The Bench had recorded in that judgment that the amendments to the relevant Statutes with reference to constitution of the Court and Academic Council would be notified on the next date i.e. November 21, 1985.
(3.) As per the statement made before the Division Bench in that case, the Executive Council did issue a notification on 21-11-1985 notifying the amendment to the First Statute to the University relating to the constitution of the Court and the Academic Council. In fact, the petitioner is challenging the validity of the said notification in this writ petition in addition to his challenging the Amendment Act itself.