Bombay HC hearing on petition against Mumbai University’s 2025-26 budget approval | File Photo
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to grant urgent interim relief on a plea seeking a stay on the March 22 resolution approving Mumbai University’s budget for the financial year 2025-26.
A petition filed by Sheetal Sheth, a Senate member affiliated with the Aditya Thackeray-led Yuva Sena, alleges procedural lapses in passing the budget.
Sheth, elected as a Senate member from the graduate constituency for the term December 2024 to August 2027 and also a Management Council member, has accused the university administration of bypassing mandatory procedures.
According to her plea, the Maharashtra Public Universities Act, 2016 mandates that the Senate, as the university’s supreme governing body, must approve financial estimates. The Finance and Accounts Committee is required to examine the budget and recommend it to the Management Council before it is presented to the Senate. However, Sheth claims this process was not followed.
She stated that a Management Council meeting was convened on March 12, 2025, with its agenda circulated on March 10. However, she contends that the agenda did not explicitly mention budget approval. She claims she received the meeting notice only on March 11 at 5:22 PM, leaving little time to prepare. During the meeting, Sheth and two other members objected to the manner in which the budget was pushed through, but their dissent was disregarded, and the draft budget was approved.
On March 22, when the budget was presented before the Senate, Sheth raised a point of order, arguing that it had not been properly deliberated in the Management Council. She insisted it should be sent back for due discussion. However, her objections were ignored, and the Senate approved the budget.
Sheth’s petition seeks to quash the March 22 resolution and direct the Administrator to place the budget before the Management Council for proper approval.
Representing Mumbai University, Advocates Ram Apte and Yuvraj Narvankar opposed the plea, arguing that the budget was already approved and set for implementation from April 1.
Sheth’s advocate Chaitanya Pendse submitted that she has filed an application before the Chancellor against the alleged lapses in approving the budget.
The division bench of Justices AS Chandurkar and Milind Sathaye directed Sheth to amend her petition and place on record an application she had submitted to the Chancellor regarding her grievances. The court has scheduled the next hearing for next week.
