ABDUL MOTIN Vs. MANISANKAR MAITI & ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The West Bengal College Service Commission (for short, the 'Commission') prepared a panel for the post of Principal of Non-Government Colleges affiliated to the Universities of the State of West Bengal. In the said panel, Dr. Nandan Bhattacharya ranked first, Dr. Abdul Motin stood second and Dr. Mani Shankar Maity stood third. Since Dr. Bhattacharya refused to accept the offer of appointment for the said post, the Commission recommended the name of Dr. Abdul Motin who ranked second in the panel for appointment as Principal. Thereafter, two writ petitions were filed separately one by Dr. Mani Shankar Maity and another by Dr. Abdul Motin.

(3.) In Writ Petition being W.P. No.20024(w) of 2012, Dr. Mani Shankar Maity challenged the acceptability of the Ph.D degree granted by the Netaji Subhas Open University as an essential academic qualification for the post of Principal. According to him, Dr. Motin who ranked second in the panel was an ineligible candidate as his Ph.D degree which he obtained from Netaji Subhas Open University, cannot be accepted as a valid Ph.D degree by the Commission. Dr. Maity contended that since first empanelled candidate viz., Dr. Nandan Bhattacharya having refused to accept the offer for his appointment for the post of Principal, and the second empanelled candidate viz., Dr. Motin being ineligible, he should be appointed as Principal by the Commission.