SREE SANKARACHARYA UNIVERSITY OF SANSKRIT Vs. DIVYTA NEDUNGADI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal is directed against the judgment dtd. 4/7/2022 in W.P.(C) No.30548 of 2021. The appellants were the respondents in the writ petition. Parties and documents are referred to in this judgment, as they appear in the writ petition.

(2.) The matter relates to the selection process initiated by Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit (the University) for appointment to the post of Assistant Professor in Mohiniyattam in terms of Ext.P2 notification. As per the notification, the University invited applications from all eligible and qualified hands against the sole vacancy earmarked for candidates belonging to Ezhava Community. The petitioners were qualified to be considered for appointment to the post, but they do not belong to the Ezhava Community or any other community to which reservation benefits are applicable. Nevertheless, according to the petitioners, they cannot be deprived of the opportunity to participate in the selection process, for the rules of reservation are to be applied only at the stage of making the appointment and not at the stage of the notification inviting applications. The petitioners, in the circumstances, challenged the notification in the writ petition to the extent it provides that the vacancy is earmarked only for candidates belonging to the Ezhava Community.

(3.) A counter affidavit has been filed in the writ petition on behalf of the University. The stand taken by the University in the counter affidavit is that in terms of the provisions contained in Sec. 32 of the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit Act, 1994 (the Act), the rules of reservation and communal rotation provided for in clauses (a), (b) and (c) of Rule 14 and the provisions of Rules 15, 16, 17 and 17A of the Kerala State and Subordinate Service Rules, 1958 (KS&SSR) as amended from time to time, are to be observed category-wise in the selection process treating all the departments of the University as one unit; that as per Ext.R1(c) decision of the Syndicate of the University, the University is maintaining separate roster registers for each category of posts with rotation points in terms of the Annexure to Part II of KS&SSR, in which details relating to posts are entered in the order of the dates of occurrence of vacancy; that in terms of the roster register maintained for the category of Assistant Professor, the vacancy that arose on 1/5/2021 in respect of which the selection process was initiated, goes to the turn of candidates belonging to the Ezhava Community and that it is on account of the said reason that it was mentioned in the notification that the vacancy is earmarked for candidates belonging to the Ezhava Community.