MURALEEDHARAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In consultation with the High Court of Kerala, the petitioner, who is a District Judge in the judicial service has been nominated and appointed as the University Appellate Tribunal constituted for Kerala, Mahathma Gandhi, Calicut, and Kannur Unisversities and the Cochin University of Science and Technology. He took charge pursuant to the said appointment on 26/05/2010. He would attain the age of retirement as a District Judge on 30/06/2011. The petitioner submits that in view of the provisions of the University Acts concerned, once nominated as a University Appellate Tribunal, he is entitled to continue for the tenure for which he is so appointed, namely 3 years, which would expire only on 26/05/2013, notwithstanding the fact that he would retire as a District Judge on 30/06/2011. Apprehending that he would be asked to lay down office on 30/06/2011, on attaining the age of retirement as a District Judge, he has filed this writ petition seeking the following reliefs:

(2.) I have considered the contentions of the petitioner as well as that of the learned Government Pleader. The provisions in all the University Acts are identical. I shall extract here S.65 of the Kerala University Act 1974, which reads as follows:

(3.) The decision in Ajithkumar's case (supra) is on a totally different set of facts, regarding the continuation of a member of the Pharmacy Council the provision in respect of which is not in pari materia with the provisions of the University Acts. In that case this Court was considering the effect of S.25(1) of the Pharmacy Act, 1948, which reads thus: