D NARAYANA Vs. JOSE SEBASTIAN AND ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Appellant is the 4th respondent in the writ petition. The writ petition is filed seeking the following prayers :-

(2.) The case of the writ petitioner was briefly as follows : He is working as Associate Professor under the Public Finance wing of Gulathi Institute of Finance and Taxation (hereinafter referred to as 'the Institute'). It is an autonomous institution formed by Government of Kerala with financial assistance from Government of India. First respondent issued Ext.P1 notification dated 4-11-2011 calling for applications from candidates for the appointment for the post of 'Director'. Last date of submitting application was 9-12-2011. Among the qualifications fixed it is indicated that the applicant must not be more than 55 years as on 1-1-2012. It is stated that as per the notification, 5 persons applied (learned counsel for the writ petitioner points out that it is a mistake). Instead of submitting a panel of eligible candidates as required as on 29-11-2011, the Selection Committee submitted the name of the appellant as the single suitable candidate on the basis of constitution of Search Committee. The appellant was ordered to be appointed by Ext.P2. According to the writ petitioner, he was the only eligible candidate. He has been working in the Institution for the past 18 years. He has authored two books in Public Finance related areas. He also referred to other achievements. Ext.P4 purports to be the bio-data of appellant. His qualification does not have anything to do with public finance and taxation which is the area of operation of the 3rd respondent Institution. Ext.P5 purports to be a report from Centre for Development Studies dated 3-5-2012 issued by Public Information Officer under the RTI Act produced to show that the appellant barely escaped from a case of sexual harassment on technical grounds. With these allegations in brief the writ petitioner had approached this court. Counter affidavit is filed by the institution, Government and the appellant.

(3.) The learned Single Judge was pleased to allow the writ petition.