AKBAR HYDERY Vs. UNIVERSITY OF JAMMU & KASHMIR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) DR . Akbar Hyderi has filed this application for quashing by a suitable writ an order made by respondent No. 2 Vice Chancellor of the Jammu and Kashmir University, appointing respondent No. 3, Habib Ullah Hamidi as Lecturer in Urdu in the University and for the issue of a suitable direction to the Vice Chancellor to hold fresh selection of the Lecturer in accordance with the amended proviso to clause (f) of Section 20 of the Jammu and Kashmir University Act of S. 2005. In the application the petitioner mentioned all his qualifications and averred that he was better qualified and had more teaching experience than respondent No. 3. It was further stated that the appointment of a Lecturer according to the University Statutes had to be made by the Vice Chancellor on the recommendation of a Selection Committee. The Selection Committee had to be constituted in accordance with the procedure and law laid down in the Statute as amended by Act No. XXV of 1961 and that the selection of respondent No. 3 by a Committee not properly constituted was illegal and ought to be set aside. Respondent No, 2 admitted that the Selection Committee consisting of respondent No. 2 as chairman, Chairman of the Public Service Commission, a member nominated by the Syndicate and two experts, Dr. Abid Hussain and Professor A. A. Saroor, nominated by the Syndicate and Vice Chancellor, respectively, was constituted and that committee had to make selection out of the candidates who had applied for the job. Professor A. A. Saroor on account of unavoidable circumstances did not attend the meeting and the remaining members of the Committee made unanimous recommendation for the appointment of respondent No. 3 as the Lecturer in Urdu which was accepted by the Syndicate in its meeting held on 16th May, 1962, and the respondent No. 3 was appointed to the post of Lecturer in Urdu. It is admitted by respondent No. 3 as well that one of the experts was absent from the Committee due to unavoidable circumstances, and that the selection was made by the other members "and that he was appointed as Lecturer in Urdu.

(2.) IN this petition the point raised before us is that the Committee which selected respondent No. 3 and rejected the petitioner was not validly constituted, inasmuch as the mandatory provisions of the amended proviso to clause (f) of section 20 of the Jammu and Kashmir University Act of 2005 were not complied with. Amendment to section 20 of the Jammu and Kashmir University Act reads as under: -

(3.) READING these two provisions it will be abundantly clear that the procedure for appointment of University Professors, Readers and Lecturers as was obtaining before the amendment, was not so rigid as it has been made after the amendment came into force. Formerly the Vice Chancellor had merely to obtain advice on the respective merits of the candidates from three experts in the subjects concerned, but after the amendment the appointment of University Professors, Readers and Lecturers is to be based upon the recommendation of a Selection Committee consisting of the Vice Chancellor as Chairman, Chairman of the Public Service Commission or his nominee, two persons possessing special knowledge of the subject concerned one nominated by the Vice Chancellor and the other by the Syndicate and lastly one person nominated by the Syndicate.