Lucknow: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Thursday stayed a single bench judgment quashing the dismissal of Prof Mahrukh Mirza, former vice-chancellor of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Language University (KMCLU), Lucknow.
A two-judge bench of Justice Rajan Roy and Justice Manjive Shukla passed the order on a special appeal filed by the university against the Aug 5, 2026 judgment of the single bench in Mirza’s writ petition. Earlier, on behalf of the university, senior lawyer LP Mishra argued that the single judge order was unsustainable as the controversy was surrounding 13 appointments allegedly made illegally during Mirza’s tenure and only seven had been validated by the varsity’s Executive Council or the Chancellor.
“Considering the nature of the charges, we are of the opinion that the impugned judgment deserves to be stayed,” the court noted and directed the matter to be listed after two months. The bench observed that the single judge had recorded findings on the merits of the charges against Mirza while ignoring the limits of judicial review. In respect of the remaining six, the employees’ services had been terminated and their petitions were pending before high court. The court found the above aspect had been overlooked by the single bench.
It also noted that the six petitions relating to the terminated employees had earlier been tagged with Mirza’s petition but were subsequently delinked.