The fate of 15 principals of undivided Magadh University will be decided on Tuesday by a Supreme Court bench comprising Justice S.A. Bobde and Justice L. Nageshwar Rao.

Three of the 15 appointments were made against non-existent posts in anticipation of future vacancy likely to arise because of death, resignation, superannuation, incapacitation or dismissal from service of the serving principals.

Earlier, in December 2015, Justice A.K. Tripathi of the Patna High Court had quashed the appointments, observing that “constitution of the selection committee was per se illegal, manipulated and prepared with the object of selecting people whose names were pre-determined and the sham of an exercise was carried out”.

Subsequently, on July 16, 2016, a double bench chaired by then Acting Chief Justice Iqbal Ahmad Ansari annulled Justice Tripathi’s order while upholding quashing of appointments made against non existent posts.

Before his retirement, Justice Ansari made headlines for granting relief to rape accused MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav and Gaya road rage case main accused Rocky Yadav.

The Supreme Court subsequently reversed both these orders. An aggrieved petitioner has challenged the order passed by the bench comprising Justice Ansari and Justice Jyoti Sharan. The apex court has admitted the petition for hearing.