SWAPNENDU PATTNAIK Vs. ORISSA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE petitioner has prayed for quashing the selection and the consequential appointment of opp. party No. 3 as Assistant Professor, Forestry, under the Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (in short, 'OUAT') and seeks for a further direction to opp. party No. 2, the Vice -Chancellor of OUAT, to appoint the petitioner in the said post.

(2.) AN advertisement was issued by OUAT for one post of Lecturer/ Junior Scientist, Forestry. In the advertisement it was indicated that the details of qualifications, specialisations, experience and other requirements in respect of each post will be supplied along with the application form. The information sheet which was supplied along with the application form has been annexed as Annexure -3. In column -7 of Annexure -3, it was indicated as against the qualifications required that the candidate should be 2nd Class B.Sc. (Forestry) and 2nd Class M.Sc. (Forestry). In the note appended, it was indicated :

(3.) THE submission of the learned counsel for the petitioner to the effect that petitioner had the brightest academic career and was most suitable for the post and should have been selected in preference to opp. party No. 3 does not merit any serious consideration, as the question as to which of the candidates is more suitable, is a matter which has to be left to the discretion of the Selection Committee consisting of experts. The Court cannot sit in appeal over such matters relating to relative merit of a candidate. However, the question as to whether a candidate was not eligible at the time of selection and as such the consequential appointment is illegal, is a matter which merits consideration.