R RAMAKRISHNAN Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These two writ petitions have been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking one and the same relief. W.P.No.23574 of 2008 has been filed by Mr.R.Ramakrishnan and 16 others seeking a prayer for issuance of a writ of mandamus to direct the respondents 1 to 3 to cancel the selection and appointment of the respondents 4 to 28 as Lecturers in Corporate Secretaryship department of the respective colleges with a consequential direction to issue fresh notification for recruitment to the post of Lecturers to the Corporate Secretaryship department in all Government colleges in the State so as to enable the petitioners to apply and participate in the recruitment process.

(2.) During the course of arguments, Mr.R.Suresh Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioners in the first Writ Petition No.23574 of 2008 fairly submitted before this Court that the said writ petition seeking issuance of a writ of mandamus to cancel the selection and appointment of the respondents 4 to 28 as Lecturers in the Corporate Secretaryship department without challenging the advertisement is not maintainable. Recording the said submission, W.P.No.23574 of 2008 stands dismissed.

(3.) Adding further, he has stated that so far as Commerce department is concerned, persons possessing post graduation in Commerce alone are eligible to be appointed. However, after the recruitment process was over and appointments were made in the respective Government colleges, the petitioner shockingly came to know to his surprise that 25 persons who are all possessing only post graduation in Commerce have been appointed as Lecturers in the Corporate Secretaryship department in various colleges. When the petitioner and similarly situated persons are all holding post graduate degree in Corporate Secretaryship, without including the Corporate Secretaryship department as a qualification in the prospectus, the petitioner has been deprived of his valuable right to be appointed as Lecturer in any of the various Government colleges. Therefore, the selection and appointment of those persons are bad, illegal and without any basis, apart from being arbitrary and unreasonable. Adding fuel to fire, the respondents 1 to 3 have further issued another notification in Advertisement No.4/2008-09 dated 14.8.2008 again for recruiting to the post of Lecturer to various departments in the Government colleges for the academic year 2008-09, again without including the Corporate Secretaryship department as one of the departments for the post of Lecturer in Corporate Secretaryship department. Continuing his arguments, the learned counsel further stated that the Commerce department is notified with the total number of vacancies as 58. In the educational qualification column also, only the post graduate qualification in Commerce is mentioned as the required qualification, as a result, the petitioner is prevented from making his application. The further grievance of the petitioner, as contended by the learned counsel, shows that the action of the respondents 1 to 3 for filling up the posts in the Corporate Secretaryship department, without notifying the subject of Corporate Secretaryship as an eligible qualification in the recruitment notification, is arbitrary and unreasonable, as a result, the respondents 1 to 3 have arbitrarily denied the reasonable opportunity of the petitioner and other similarly placed persons to make their applications for recruitment.