The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has stayed the derecognition order of the Maharashtra Social Welfare Commissioner Om Prakash Bakporia.
The orders for withdrawing recognition of Social Work College, Kamptee; Aniket College of Social Work, Wardha, and Mamidwar College of Social Work, Chandrapur, were issued by Bakoria in July.
The social work colleges approached the High Court. The bench of Justice Vrushali Joshi and Justice Chandurkar n Wednesday stayed the execution of the order of the Social Welfare Commissioner and issued notices to the Chief Secretary of Social Welfare, Social Welfare Commissioner, and Nagpur Regional Deputy Commissioner of Social Welfare to submit their replies within 30 days.
As per the provisions of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act 2016, neither the Social Welfare Commissioner nor the State Government can withdraw recognition of any college affiliated with a university. The Social Welfare Commissioner issued orders based on the rules of 1999, which have been superseded after the promulgation of the Act of 2016. The Commissioner also did not obtain permission of the Chief Secretary or Social Welfare Minister.