(1.) The petitioners in W.P.(C).No.20658 of 2021 are the appellants herein aggrieved by the judgment dtd. 17/3/2023 of the learned Single Judge that dismissed their writ petition. The brief facts necessary for disposal of the Writ Appeal are as follows:
(2.) The appellants/writ petitioners are all Post Graduate Degree holders in Science in various disciplines such as Marine Biology, Fisheries and Aquaculture. Two of them have NET qualification in Aquaculture, and one among them also has a Ph.D in Marine Science. In the writ petition, they impugned initially, Ordinance Nos.46/2021 and 109/2021 that purported to amend the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies Act, 2010 [hereinafter referred to as the "KUFOS Act"] by inserting Sec. 45A therein, on the ground that it was vitiated for want of legislative competence. During the pendency of the writ petition, however, the Ordinances aforementioned were replaced by the Amendment Act of 2021, and hence the writ petition was amended to incorporate a challenge to the Amendment Act, to the extent it introduced Sec. 45A to the KUFOS Act. The challenge to the Amendment Act on the ground of legislative competence was premised on the contention that the amendment pertained to a field that was already occupied by a Central legislation viz. the UGC Act, 1956 and the Regulations framed thereunder, and hence, it was not permissible for the State Legislature to legislate in respect of a field already occupied by a Central legislation. The amendment was also impugned as arbitrary and discriminatory since it was the contention of the appellants/writ petitioners that the amendment had the effect of insisting on securing a Post Graduate qualification awarded by the KUFOS as a condition precedent for appointment as Assistant Professor in the said University, and therefore, the amended provisions of the Act had the effect of treating equals as unequals, thereby falling foul of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.
(3.) The main contention of the writ petitioners regarding occupied field was that the qualifications prescribed under the amended provisions of the KUFOS Act were contradictory to the qualifications prescribed by the UGC Regulations on Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and Others Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education, 2018 [hereinafter referred to as "UGC Regulations, 2018"]. The relevant provisions of the UGC Regulations, 2018, that replaced the UGC Regulations of 2010, read as follows: