A V VENKATARATNAM Vs. CHANCELLOR UNIVERSITY OF MYSORE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In these five writ petitions in which each of the petitioner has prayed for the issue of a writ of mandamus directing the Chancellor of the Mysore University to appoint him to the post to which he had been selected for appointment by the Board of Appointment (hereinafter referred to as 'the Board') constituted under S. 49 of the Karnataka State Universities Act, 1976 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), the following common question of law arises for consideration: Whether S. 49 (6) of the Act confers a right on a person duly selected by the Board, for appointment to the post of a Professor or Reader or Lecturer on the establishment of an University constituted and functioning under the Act to be appointed to the post to which he was selected? or Whether under S. 49(6) of the Act the Chancellor has the absolute right or discretion to refuse to appoint a person so selected by the Board?

(2.) The brief facts which have given rise to these petitions are as follows: By an advertisement dated 4/6th June 1977 issued by the Registrar of the Mysore University applications were invited for selection for appointment for the posts of Professors, Readers and Lecturers in various faculties on the establishment of the Mysore University. The advertisement specified the number of posts as also the essential and desirable qualifications for each category of posts. The pe,ti- tioners were among those, who submitted their applications pursuant to the above advertisement. The Board constituted in accordance with the provisions of S. 49 of the Act, selected the petitioner in W. P. No. 3779 of 1979 for the post of Professor of History; the petitioner in W. P. No. 5269 of 1979 for the post of Reader in Kannada; the petitioner in W. P. No. 5934 of 1979 for the post of Lecturer in Ancient History and Archaeology; the petitioner in W. P. No. 6055 of 1979 for the post of Reader in Law and the petitioner in W. P. No. 7804 of 1979 for the post of Lecturer in Mathematics. After the selection was made by the Board, the Chancellor declined to appoint these petitioners for the posts to which they were selected and a communication was sen,t to the Registrar to that effect and the Chancellor directed that the posts should be re advertised. Aggrieved by the refusal by the Chancellor to appoint the petitioners to the posts to which they were selected by the Board, the petitioners have presented these writ, petitions praying for issue of a writ of mandamus directing the Chancellor to appoint the respective petitioner for the post to which he had been selected by the Board.

(3.) In order to answer the question arising for consideration in these writ petitions, before setting out the relevant provisions of the Act, it is also necessary to refer to the corresponding provisions of law which regulated the appointments to the teaching posts in the three universities in the State before the Act was enacted. (1) Prior to 25th September 1975, the constitution and organisation of the three universities in the State, viz., The Karnataka University, the Mysore University and the Bangalore University were governed by the Karnataka University Act, 1949, the Mysore University Act, 1956 and the Bangalore University Act, 1964. respectively,