File Photo of Visva Bharati Vice Chancellor Sushanta Dattagupta.
The HRD ministry proposal recommending dismissal of Visva Bharati Vice Chancellor Sushanta Dattagupta and the procedures followed are "legally tenable", the Law Ministry has opined.
The Law ministry's view may pave way for the ministry to again recommend to President Pranab Mukherjee, who is the Visitor of Central Institutions, the sacking of the Vice Chancellor, who is facing allegations of financial and administrative irregularities.
Significantly, in what is being seen as a related development, HRD minister Smriti Irani has also met the President earlier this week.
The meeting, learnt to have taken place earlier this week, happened in the backdrop of reports that the President and HRD minister have differed on certain matters including on the choice of candidate for JNU VC and in the course of action to be adopted in the case of Mr Dattagupta.
Earlier, it was after the President office raised certain queries that the ministry had sought the opinion of the Law Ministry.
The President's office had in November last year sent back the file pertaining to Mr Dattagupta asking whether denying the VC a "hearing in person" on allegations levelled against him was legally tenable, it is learnt.
"The view of the Law Ministry has conveyed to the HRD ministry that the proposal is legally tenable. The Law ministry has suggested that the HRD ministry can for a fresh look may seek the opinion of the Attorney General," a senior official said.
Sources said the HRD ministry had also sent a copy of a draft notication to the Law ministry which was examined.
The President's office had in November last year, after examining the case, sent back the file asking the HRD ministry to see whether not giving Mr Dattagupta a chance to explain his stand on the allegation was "legally tenable".