JAYAKRISHNAN N.K Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in these two cases - which are hypostatised on similar factual assertions and seek similar reliefs - are persons who were directly recruited as Lab Assistants in the services of "Bishop Moore College, Mavelikkara" and "Sree Sankara Vidyapeetom College, Perumbavoor".

(2.) As per "The Conditions of Service of Teachers and Members of Non Teaching Staff - First Statutes, 1979 of the University of Kerala, (hereinafter referred to as "First Statutes" for short), the qualifications requisite for a person to be appointed as a Laboratory Assistant is either a pass in Standard VII or equivalent, or five years of regular service in private colleges; along with pass in "Attenders Test", conducted by the Public Service Commission.

(3.) It is undisputed that, for every candidate who is appointed as a Laboratory Assistant, three chances are granted statutorily to pass the "Attenders Test", and that if this is done, then they would retain the seniority in the said post, notwithstanding that somebody else had cleared the same earlier.