K. SIVAJI Vs. UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner who is presently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nuclear Physics, University of Madras, has filed this Writ Petition for a direction upon the University of Madras (hereinafter referred to as 'respondent University') to strictly comply with the UGC Regulations on minimum qualifications for appointment of teachers and other academic staff in Universities and Colleges and measures for the maintenance of standards in higher educations, 2010, as amended in August 2010, with respect to the direct recruitment to the post of Professor in the Department of Nuclear Physics.

(2.) AT the time when the Writ Petition was admitted on 19.12.2014, an order of Interim Injunction was granted in M.P. No. 1 of 2014. The respondent University has filed their counter affidavit along with a petition to vacate the order of Interim Injunction in M.P. No. 1 of 2015. With the consent of the learned counsels appearing for the parties, the Writ Petition itself is taken up for final disposal.

(3.) BY this Writ Petition, the petitioner states that in addition to the qualifications and credentials, which were submitted, as per the UGC Regulations, a candidate to the post of Professor by direct recruitment should possess a minimum score of 400 as stipulated in the API based on PBAS and unless and until the applicant has this qualification and has a minimum score of 400, the question of being eligible to apply does not arise and they are not to be considered. Therefore, the petitioner would state that the respondent University is bound by the UGC Regulation stipulating the minimum API score as prescribed in the Regulation and without adhering to the same, the respondent University has constituted a Selection Committee and the procedure adopted by the respondent University is illegal. Further, it is submitted that the UGC Regulations require that prior to the Selection, the University has to evaluate the research papers by the experts with the assessment report and marks awarded in case of CAS promotions. The petitioner would state that he was surprised to find when he attended the interview that candidates who have been called, have secured less than 400 points as API score, which revealed that no evaluation was done by the subject experts and the selection process is contrary to the UGC Regulations, which is mandatory. It is further submitted that the manner of evaluation for direct recruitment to the post of Professor, has not been adhered to and the minimum 400 points API requirement has been given a goby. By relying upon the counter affidavit filed by the the fourth respondent stating that in his self appraisal, he has stated that he had 160 points and was not confident of not being called for interview, but he was called for interview, which would go to show that there has been no evaluation. It is further submitted that the selection committee in utter disregard to the UGC Regulations has awarded marks to all candidates and several of the applicants including the fourth respondent do not have the minimum requirement and therefore, ineligible to be considered for appointment to the post of Professor. It is further submitted that the petitioner has also submitted a representation before the Vice Chancellor and there was no response to the representation and therefore, he has approached this Court by way of this Writ Petition for the aforementioned relief.