(1.) ALL these writ appeals are directed against the common judgment and Order dated 28th december, 2001 passed in W. P. Nos. 32531 of 2001; 27812 of 2001 and 28198 of 2001;, wa. Nos. 669 and 671 of 2002 are filed by the fifth respondent in W. P. No. 32531 of 2001; W. A nos. 336-338 of 2002 by Respondent No. 15 in W. P. No. 32531 of '2001; WA No. 318 of 2002; w. A Nos. 665 and 666 of 2002 are by Respondent Nos. 20, 17 and 16 in W. P. No. 32531 of 2001 respectively; W. A No. 674 and 675 of 2002 by Respondent No. 7 and 8 respectively; W. A. No. 744 of 2002 by Respondent No. 10 in W. P. No. 32531 of 2002. The dispute brought before the court relates to selection and appointment to the posts of Assistant Professor in Cardiology and cardio-Thoracic Surgery.
(2.) THE facts of the case in brief may be noted first and they are as follows: The Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology (hereinafter referred to as 'the Institute') established in Bangalore is said to be a premier Institute in the field and it was established in order to achieve the avowed object of having an advanced Cardiac Centre for heart diseases, research training and ancillary activities like that of providing total and comprehensive care to Cardio thoracic patients and imparting and educating the public regarding control of various heart diseases and abnormalities found prevalent in our country. The Institute is a Society registered under the provisions of the karnataka Societies Registration Act, 1960. It is not in dispute that it is an instrumentality of the state Government, as such, is a 'state' within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of india. Therefore, its actions are amenable to writ jurisdiction of this Court under Article 12 of the constitution. The Institute has formed Service Rules for Pay, Recruitment Conditions of Service and Miscellaneous Provisions, apart from framing rules and regulations to administer the institute. In the Institute there are three main Departments, viz. , Cardiology, Cardiothoracic surgery and Anaesthesiology.
(3.) THE Institute on an earlier occasion had favoured certain employees with promotions out of turn basis in the cadres of Assistant Surgeons and Lecturers. Certain Writ Petitions were filed before this Court assailing the said action of the Institute, which ultimately culminated in w. A. Nos. 7590 and 7591 of 2000, WA No. 7592 of 2000 and WA. Nos. 7637 to 7640 of 2000. Those Writ Appeals were disposed of by a Division Bench of this Court by its order dated 30. 03. 2001 quashing the action of the Institute in promoting and appointing certain Assistant surgeons and lecturers. The Division Bench while disposing of the writ appeals held that such of those who had served as lecturers in the Department of Cardiology and Cardiothoracic Surgery can avail an opportunity of participating in the selection process for recruitment to the post of assistant Professors provided they are found to be eligible for the same and have comparative merit for holding those posts. The Division Bench further held that for providing the process of selection by direct recruitment, the Institute has devised a mechanism for inspiring its faculty members to work with more involvement and devotion in order to achieve excellence in their field and serving cardiac patients with commitment. The employees of the Institute who had questioned the said action of the Institute were Respondent No. 1 Dr. N. M. Prasad, Respondent no. 5 Dr. T. R. Raghu, Respondent No. 6 Dr. Prabhavathi, Respondent No. 9 Dr. P. G. Girish, respondent No. 10 Dr. S. Shankar, Respondent No. 12 Dr. R. Ramesh, Respondent No. 15 Dr. Venugopal Ramarao, Respondent No. 16 Dr. Kumsi Sridhar, Respondent No. 17 Dr. Prabhuswamy, Respondent No. 18 Dr. Giridhar Kamalapurkar.