Petitioner sought appointment as Head of Geology Department and Dean of Faculty of Science claiming seniority. Court dismissed writ petition following Sharda Sharma precedent, noting administrative leeway and lack of mandatory seniority clause.
Writ petition dismissed; no direction to appoint petitioner.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
% 10th April, 2015
PROFESSOR J.P. SHRIVASTAVA ..... Petitioner Through Mr.Som Dutta Sharma with Mr.Gaurav Bhardwaj, Advocates.
versus
UNIVERSTIY OF DELHI AND ANR ..... Respondents Through Ms.Beenashaw N. Soni, Advocate.
CORAM:
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE VALMIKI J.MEHTA
To be referred to the Reporter or not?
VALMIKI J. MEHTA, J (ORAL)
the Faculty of Science. Claim of the petitioner is based on his being the senior most.
W.P.(C) No.4738/2014 Page 1 of 7
“ Ordinance XXIII. Heads of Departments:
1. The Head of the department shall be appointed by the Vice-Chancellor by observing, as far as possible the principle of rotation. Such appointments shall be reported to the Executive Council.
2. Notwithstanding anything contained in Clause 1, if for any reason it has not been possible to appoint a person as Head of the Department who is senior to the person (persons) who has already served or is serving as Head of the Department, it shall be open to the Vice-Chancellor to appoint that person as Head of the Department whenever a vacancy next occurs if he can otherwise be so appointed.
3. The Head of the Department shall hold office for a period of three years. A person shall not ordinarily be appointed as Head of the Department for a second consecutive term.
4. Notwithstanding anything contained in Clause-2, pending the appointment of a Head of the Department or during his absence on leave, the Vice-Chancellor may ask any Professor or any Reader in the Department either to discharge the current duties of the Head of the Department or to act as Head of the Department, as the case may be, as a purely temporary measure.
Note: The Principle of rotation will apply from the person who is next in order of seniority to the person who has already served or is serving as Head of the department.
Statue 12(1)
The Deanship of a Faculty will rotate amongst the Departments of that faculty. For that purpose a list of such Departments, in the order reckoned from the date of their establishment, the oldest Department being put first and so on, shall be prepared. Where two or more departments have been established on the same date, their relative place in the list will be determined by draw of lots.
Any person who is the Head of that Department whose turn comes according to the list, shall be the dean for a period of three years provided that if that person ceases to be the Head before completing the said term, his successor in the Department shall be the Dean for the remainder of the
W.P.(C) No.4738/2014 Page 2 of 7
term and provided further that in a case where the turn of such a department comes where the Dean is to act as the Head, that Department will be bypassed by the one immediately next to it in the list.”
person who claims to be senior must necessarily be appointed as the Head of the Department, in the case of Prof. Sharda Sharma Vs. University of Delhi & Ors. in W.P.(C) No.5568/2013 decided on 04.9.2013. The judgment dated 04.9.2013 reads as under:-
“1. Petitioner is working as a Professor in the Department of Sanskrit of the respondent no.1-University of Delhi. By this writ petition, petitioner seeks the relief that she should be appointed as Head of the Department of Sanskrit in the respondent no.1-University. Petitioner claims this entitlement on the ground that petitioner will now be the senior most person in the Department of Sanskrit.
Statute 9(2)(d)
“2. x xx xxx xxx
(d) (i) Each Department shall have a Professor as its Head provided that when in a Department there is only one Professor or no Professor eligible to be the Head, a Reader may be appointed as its Head and when there is no Professor or Reader eligible to be the Head, the Dean of the Faculty concerned shall act as the Head of the Department.
(ii) No person shall ordinarily be appointed or continue as the Head of a Department on his attaining the age of sixty two years.
(iii) Subject as aforesaid, the duties and functions, terms and conditions and method of appointment of the Head of a Department shall be prescribed by the Ordinances.”
W.P.(C) No.4738/2014 Page 3 of 7
Ord. XXIII. Heads of Departments
“1. The Head of the Department shall be appointed by the ViceChancellor by observing, as far as possible, the principle of rotation. Such appointments shall be reported to the Executive Council.
QUALIFICATIONS OF UNIVERSITY TEACHERS
W.P.(C) No.4738/2014 Page 4 of 7
re-appointed unless there is no other person available and qualified for being appointed as Head of the Department.
W.P.(C) No.4738/2014 Page 5 of 7
W.P.(C) No.4738/2014 Page 6 of 7
Court is ill-equipped to substitute its decision for that of the department/authority for issuing a direction to appoint the petitioner as the Head of the Department of Geology by quashing the appointment of the respondent no.2 who has been so appointed.
APRIL10, 2015 VALMIKI J. MEHTA, J. KA
W.P.(C) No.4738/2014 Page
7 of 7
2 issues framed by the court
Whether a senior-most professor is entitled by statutory mandate to be appointed as Head of Department.
Whether administrative decisions on appointments are subject to judicial substitution.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Prof. Sharda Sharma Vs. University of Delhi & Ors.Followed¶4
Prof. Sharda Sharma Vs. University of Delhi & Ors., W.P.(C) No.5568/2013
2 provisions across 2 enactments
Professor J.P. Shrivastava
University of Delhi
Valimki J. Mehta
As recorded by the court registry
A petition under Article 226 of the Constitution asking a High Court to issue a writ against the State or a public authority in a civil matter.
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
