PATNA, May 22 -- The posting of principals in the constituent colleges of Bihar will be delayed as the Patna High Court has put under abeyance the May 16 Raj Bhawan direction to all the vice chancellors in this regard till July 7, the next date of hearing. "As prayed for on behalf of the State as well as the Chancellor, four weeks time is allowed to file their respective counter affidavits. Operation of order dated May 16, 2025 issued under the signature of principal secretary to the Governor is kept in abeyance till the next date of hearing i.e. May 7, 2025. In the meantime, Office of the learned Chancellor may revisit it, if so advised," said the bench of Justice Rajesh Kumar Verma, while hearing the petition by Suheli Mehta, who had topped in the merit list of principals. On May 16, the Raj Bhawan had constituted the committees with nomination of all women as chancellor's representatives in different universities and issued detailed guidelines for random posting of principals for colleges through lottery. As per the Raj Bhawan letter issued by Robert L Chongthu, principal secretary to the Governor, which has been put under abeyance by the HC, to all the VCs of state universities, the three-member committee comprising the concerned VC, registrar and the nominee of the Chancellor would follow the laid down procedure, which includes random lottery method to be carried under videography compulsorily. This was challenged on the plea that the merit-wise posting of principals recommended by the Bihar state university service commission (BSUSC) would be undermined through a draw of lots. BSUSC had on March 24 recommended the names of 116 principals in the state's constituent colleges, where stakes are always high for the position, leading to unsavoury controversies in the past. The commission had published the merit list with allotment of universities. There were 158 candidates interviewed, while 141 applications could not be shortlisted during scrutiny. However, two months on, the modalities of posting are yet to be finalised, which would now be possible only in July or August....