S V SATHYANARAYANA Vs. OSMANIA UNIVERSITY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Petitioner approached this Court seeking Writ of Mandamus or direction to Respondent to issue appointment orders to the petitioner for the post of Reader in Department of Telugu.

(2.) The facts leading to the case are that the petitioner is a Post Graduate in Arts. He possessed M. Phil and Ph.D. in Telugu. He published six books and about 61 research articles in Telugu. He has been working as a Junior Lecturer in B.R. Ambedkar College from July, 1979 onwards and thus he was having experience of 12 years as a teaching staff. He belongs to Backward Clase Community (D-Group). While the matter stood thus, the respondent issued Advertisement No. 4 of 90 dated 12-7-1990 inviting applications for the post of Professors Readers and Lecturers in various faculties. Since the petitioner possessed the qualifications for both Readers and Lecturers he submitted applications for the said posts separately. The petitioner was interviewed for for the post of Reader on 31-7-1991 while he was interviewed for the post of Lecturer on 2-8-1991. The petitioner submits that he was put in the select panel for the post of Reader, while he was also selected for the post of Lecturer and therefore he was issued with the appointment order dated 3-10-1991 and he joined the post on 4-10-1991 as a Lecturer in Telugu. In this regard it is to be noted that the petitioner is concerned only with the appointment of Reader, though he was selected for the post of Lecturer and he has been continuing in the said post. The panel prepared by the Selection Committee was approved by the board of management on 31-7-1991 and therefore the panel would be operative upto 18-8-1992. In the meanwhile, in pursuance of the selection panel, Dr. (Miss) K. Kusuma Bai and Dr. K. Rauknuddin were initially appointed as Readers and subsequently when another vacancy arose Dr. Nanumasa Swamy was appointed, who is No. 3 in the panel. No. 4 candidate in the panel Dr. T. Kishan Rao did not opt for the post of Reader and he availed the Career Advancement Scheme. Thus, the petitioner is the next available person to be appointed in the post of Reader subject to the vacancy.

(3.) While so, a vacancy of Reader arose on 30-6-1992, consequent on the retirement of Dr. M. Kulasekhar Rao, who was working as a Reader. Since the vacancy arose during the life period of the panel, the petitioner submitted number of representations to the Respondent for issuing appointment order as he is only the available candidate for the appointment in the Select Panel. It is also his case that though he was appointed as a Junior Lecturer in B.R. Ambedkar College yet he was taking classes both Intermediate and also Degree classes and thus his experience has to be treated as a Lecturer in the College as it was a composite college. Further the service put in as Junior Lecturer was treated as service as a Lecturer as some of the Readers appointed in the interview held in July, 1991 possessed only the experience as a Junior Lecturer. Dr. Ruknuddin i.e. No. 2 in the panel for appointment as a Reader only worked as a Junior Lecturer in Government Junior College and he was appointed as a Reader. Similarly Sri Manohar Rao and Y.V. Narsing Rao were appointed as Readers in Genetics and Botany who never worked as Lecturers, but only worked as a Junior Lecturers. Therefore, the requirement that he should work as Lecturer in Degree College was understood and interpreted by the university so as to include the service as a Junior Lecturer on par with the service as a Lecturer. Under those circumstances, the petitioner submits that he should be appointed as a Reader with effect from 1-7-1992, when a vacancy arose, with all consequential benefits. 3. This Court by an order dated 24-12-1992 granted interim direction not to fill up the post of Readers in Telugu during the pendency of this Writ Petition and till today it is fell vacant from 1-7-1992 is kept unfilled.