A.DEIVENDRAN Vs. MADURAI KAMARAJ UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) CHALLENGING the correctness of the impugned notification issued by the Madurai Kamaraj University in Advertisement Nos.R 35 to 52/MKU/DDE/2013 made in publications dated 27.04.2013 and 28.04.2013, treating each department in the Directorate of Distance Education as a single unit, these writ petitions have been filed to quash the same with the consequential direction to the respondents to consider the vacancies in the Directorate of Distance Education as a single unit and thereupon to work out the roster for reservation and re -advertise the vacancies in the

(2.) ND respondent/Directorate of Distance Education, within the time to be stipulated by this Court. 2. Mr.T.Lajapathi Roy, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners in all these writ petitions, heavily assailing the impugned advertisement calling for applications for recruitment to the posts of Assistant Professor to various departments in the 2nd respondent/Directorate of Distance Education (hereinafter referred to as DDE), termed the approach adopted by the Madurai Kamaraj University as highly arbitrary, as the said approach is against the statues of the 1st respondent/Madurai Kamaraj University (hereinafter referred to as University). When Chapter VII of the statutes of the University clearly provides that there are 18 schools with 72 departments in the University, the 2nd respondent/DDE is not part of the same, inasmuch as the institute of correspondence course and continuing education is a separate and independent unit. Moreover, as per Chapter XXXII of the statutes of the University, the teachers of the institute are not transferable to University Department, resultantly, if any vacancy arises in the departments of the University, consequently, if any other teacher from the institute wants to apply, he/she has to apply separately and appear before the appropriate selection committee, therefore, it is clear that DDE is a separate and independent unit, hence the same cannot be divided into various departments.

(3.) CONTINUING his argument, he has further submitted that by the impugned advertisement seeking to fill up the posts of Assistant Professor in various departments lying in the Directorate of Distance Education, classifying the said directorate into 18 departments and following the roster has seriously resulted in giving most of the seats for general turn category. According to him, if 200 point roster system is followed in the instant recruitment drive for the 23 posts of Assistant Professor, five posts should be reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, another five posts should be reserved for Most Backward Class candidates, yet another six posts should be reserved for Backward Class candidates and only seven posts are to be earmarked for general turn, however, contrary to that, the 1st respondent/University has wrongly sub classified the 2nd respondent/DDE into several departments claiming all the posts are single cadre posts, hence the same cannot be justified. By not treating the 2nd respondent/DDE as a single unit, earmarking most of the posts of Assistant Professor for general turn terribly curtails the right of reservation to SC/ST, BC and MBC candidates.