Petitioner challenging notification for teaching posts due to omission of Assistant Professor in Chemistry. Bench observed lack of malicious design and petitioner's speculation bars writ. Dismissed petition without costs.
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THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO WRIT PETITION. No. 19660 OF 2013
ORDER:
This writ petition is filed seeking a Writ of Mandamus for declaring the notification No.4/2012 issued on 21.12.2012 by the respondent-Kakatiya University as illegal and to consequently direct the respondent-University to identify posts/branches for recruitment of teaching staff in the University College of Engineering, in accordance with the proposals forwarded by the University at the time of establishment of the said college.
The petitioner has obtained his Post Graduate Degree of Master of Science in Chemistry from the respondent-University having passed the examination during May 2004 in second division. The respondentUniversity has also awarded him Ph.D degree in August, 2012. It is his case that, he has been working at present on contract basis as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry of the respondentUniversity. The respondent-University, apart from the colleges at it’s campus at Warangal, has been maintaining post graduate centers at Hanamkonda, Nirmal, Karimnagar, Godavarikhani, Khammam and Kothagudem. It has also a college of engineering at Kothagudem. The State Government by their orders contained in G.O.Ms.No.115, Higher Education Department dated 11.08.2009, granted permission for establishing a College of Engineering and Technology at its campus a t Warangal. Subsequently, it has also secured the necessary approval from All India Council for Technical Education for running the college of Engineering and Technology. From the academic year 2009-2010, the College of Engineering and Technology was started with four branches of Engineering, namely (1) Computer Science and
Engineering (2) Electrical and Electronics Engineering (3) Electronics and Communication Engineering and (4) Mechanical Engineering. The university has forwarded a proposal to the Government of Andhra Pradesh for sanctioning several teaching and non-teaching posts. 70 teaching posts are thus sought for sanction by the respondent-University, which included one post of Principal, one post of a Director of the Computer Centre in the rank of a Professor and 8 other post of professors, at the rate of 2 per engineering department. It also sought for sanction of 19 posts of Associate Professors, which included 12 posts, at the rate of 3 per each Department of Engineering, 2 each for Departments of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. The remaining two posts of Associate Professor are sought for Humanities & Social Sciences Department. It sought for 41 posts in all of Assistants Professors, which included 2 posts of Assistant Professors in Chemistry subject. As against this requirement, the State Government sanctioned a total of 37 teaching posts and 8 non-teaching posts. 38 other support staff posts are also sanctioned on outsourcing basis. Orders to this effect have been passed by the State Government through their G.O.Ms.No.265 Finance (SMPC-1) Department dated 17.12.2011. One post of Principal, 10 posts of Professors, 06 Associate Professors and 20 posts of Assistant Professors have been sanctioned during the first phase. For purposes of filling up these 37 posts, the respondent-University has taken out notification No.4/2012 on 21.12.2012, inviting applications from qualified candidates as on 06.02.2013. The notification No.4/2012 invited applications for a total of 11 posts of Professors, 6 posts of Associate Professors and 20 posts of Assistant Professors. Of the 11 posts of Professors advertised, one post is in the Department of Information and Technology, a branch of engineering which has not
been sanctioned to the college of Engineering and Technology by the University at all. This apart, two other posts in Mining Engineering were also notified, whereas, there is no Mining Engineering Department available at the campus College o f Engineering and Technology of the respondent-University. Most significantly, one post of Professor in Chemistry has been notified, whereas, the proposals submitted by the University to the State Government did not even solicit the sanction of the post of Professor in Chemistry to the college of engineering. Of the 20 Assistant Professor posts advertised, two posts have been allocated to the Commerce & Business Management Department and three posts were allocated to Information Technology Department. One post each is allocated to Physics and English Departments and not even a single post of Assistant Professor is allocated to the Chemistry Department. Hence, the petitioner challenges the validity of this notification No.4/2012 in this writ petition. The respondent-University has filed a detailed counter affidavit in the matter, demonstrating as to how, it has proposed to recruit qualified teachers.
Heard Sri G. Vidyasagar, learned senior counsel for the petitioner and Sri C.V. Mohan Reddy, learned senior counsel for the respondent-University.
At the very outset, the petitioner in paragraph 5 of the affidavit, filed in support of the writ petition has candidly admitted that, since he does not possess the requisite qualifications for recruitment as Professor and Associate Professor in Chemistry, which posts were notified, he did not apply for the same. However, it is his case that, since the respondent-University has not properly notified the various teaching posts, he was thus deprived, along with other eligible
candidates to participate in the selection process for recruitment to the posts sanctioned and approved by the State Government for the College of Engineering and Technology at Warangal. It is also appropriate to notice that, in paragraph 7 of the affidavit filed in support of this writ petition, the writ petitioner referred to a representation said to have been submitted by Dr. G. Dayakar, Professor in Department of Chemistry on 19.06.2003, detailing the objections for conduct of the recruitment process pursuant to notification No.4/2012. It is further adverted to therein that, without taking any steps to rectify the mistakes committed in issuing the notification No.4/2012, the respondents are proceeding to conduct interviews for the candidates, which are scheduled from 10.07.2013 onwards. Hence, this writ petition is instituted in this Court on 08.07.2013.
While sanctioning 37 teaching posts through their G.O.Ms.No.265, Finance (SMPC-I) Department dated 17.12.2011, the State Government has not identified the branches or subjects for which the sanction order is issued. Therefore, the ViceChancellor of the University constituted a Four Member Committee for identifying and distributing the sanctioned posts for various branches/subjects in the engineering college. The Committee comprised of (1) The Dean, College Development, Council (2) The Dean, Faculty of Commerce & Business Management (3) The Principal, University College of Engineering, Kothagudem (4) The Registrar of the University as the Member Convener of this Committee.
According to the learned senior counsel for the petitioner, Sri G. Vidyasagar, the constitution of this Committee is so patently erroneous. The Dean, College Development Council belongs to the Botany Department, whereas, the Registrar of
the University belongs to the Commerce Department. The only technical subject expert in this committee is the Principal, University of the College Engineering, Kothagudem, who is incidentally a professor in Physics Department there. Thus, the constitution of this Committee and entrusting the task of identifying the branches of engineering/subjects amongst which the sanctioned posts need be allocated is fraught with imperfection from the very conception itself. It is also pointed out that, there is a separate Dean for the Faculty of Engineering and instead of associating him, the Dean of the College Development Council has been made a member. Similarly, the incumbent Principal of the University College of Engineering, Warangal, was not even made a member to this Committee. It is hence urged that, there was no proper application of mind by the members of this Committee while identifying and allocating the various posts amongst the various branches of engineering and other subjects which are taught at the University College of Engineering. It is also pointed out that, one subject relating to Management, Economics and Accountancy is taught during the first semester of the third year syllabus to the four year B.Tech engineering programme and it carries teaching work load to weekly three lectures and the exam carries a maximum of 150 marks out of 1050 marks at the semester end exams. For such a minor and insignificant teaching work load to be handled, the Committee has identified two posts of Assistant Professors for Commerce & Business Management subjects. This itself reflects lack of consideration of absolutely relevant factors by the Committee constituted by the Vice-Chancellor for identifying the posts. It is the specific case of the petitioner that, because of this identification of two posts for Commerce & Business Management, and for unjustly allocating one post of Professor and one post of Associate Professor
for the Chemistry subject, not even one post of Assistant Professor in Chemistry subject has been notified. This, according to the writ petitioner, is a very well designed move to deprive the petitioner and other similarly qualified candidates from responding and competing for regular selection.
In paragraph 12 of the affidavit filed in support of this writ petition, it is asserted that, there is no demand from the students for Mining Engineering courses, but yet, two posts of professors in Mining Engineering have been notified without any rationale. It is asserted that, the Signareni Collieries Company was the major source of employment for the Mining Engineering Students and the said Singareni Collieries Company has considerably reduced the intake of technical staff consequent on the introduction of open cast mines and privatization of the mining area. It is also contended that, the proposed notification with regard to the post of Professors also runs counter to the proposals forwarded by the University to the State Government seeking sanction of teaching and non-teaching posts.
In the proposals submitted by the University, two posts of Associate Professors and two posts of Assistant Professors in Chemistry subject have been suggested. Chemistry subject is taught only during the first year of the engineering course and hence no post of Professor is sought for sanction to the said subject. However, with a view to have leverage for the persons at the helm of affairs to choose their own candidates, one post of Professor in Chemistry and one post of Associate Professor in Chemistry are notified running counter to the proposals.
It is further contended that, while filling up the post of Associate Professor and Assistant Professors, the principles of reservation
among various social sectors as prescribed by the Government have got to be observed. For securing a proper implementation of this reservation policy, various departments/faculties have been combined and grouped so as to run the cyclic rotation of vacancies amongst them conveniently. Group-1 comprises of Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Commerce faculties. Group-2 comprises of all Science faculties, while Group-3 comprises of Technical and Engineering faculties. The various subjects/disciplines in the respective groups have to be arranged in the English alphabetical order. The present notification has been issued arranging the various faculties/subjects in the said alphabetical order, so that, no one will suspect the ultimate designs of the University administration. It is, for achieving this purpose, the Department of Commerce & Business Management is included in Group-3, comprising of Technical and Engineering courses. Because of this wrongful introduction of Commerce & Business Management Department, Chemistry and Mathematics subjects have been completely eliminated from being notified amongst the posts of Assistant Professors. It is specifically asserted in paragraph 16 and 17 of the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition that, allocation of two posts of Assistant Professor in Commerce and Business Management and including them in the impugned notification is not only an irrelevant aspect of the matter, but, has been done to favour someone of recruitment in those departments, at the cost of the Chemistry Department. Thus, the petitioner has been denied the rightful opportunity of competing for selection to the post of Assistant Professor in Chemistry.
The Registrar of the University who filed a counter affidavit, has clearly stated in paragraph 6 of the said counter affidavit that, from the
academic year 2009-2010, a four year B. Tech course has been commenced by the University at its University College of Engineering and Technology with four branches, pursuant to the sanction accorded by the Government through G.O.Ms.No.115, Higher Education Department dated 11.08.2009. Thereafter, it is stated that the Government of Andhra Pradesh also sanctioned B. Tech (Information Technology) course with an intake of 60 students during the academic year 2012-2013, so as to make the college eligible to be recognized by the U.G.C. It is also suggested that, after holding deliberations and discussions, with several experts in the concerned departments, the respondent-University requested the State Government for sanction of 70 teaching posts for the University College of Engineering, Warangal, in a phased manner. During the first phase, University requested sanction of 37 posts while for PhaseII, 21 and finally for Phase-III, 12 posts. Therefore, the State Government has sanctioned 37 teaching posts for Phase-I recruitment process. For securing the distribution of these 37 posts, amongst various departments/disciplines, the Vice-Chancellor has constituted an appropriate committee. This apart, the Executive Council of the University at its 98th meeting held on 18.01.2012 resolved to authorize the Vice-Chancellor to initiate necessary action in the matter to fill up the posts (teaching and non-teaching) as per the rules in force. Therefore, the Vice-Chancellor has constituted the Committee for identifying the branches/subjects in engineering as per the requirements so that the same can be filled up. After the recommendations of this Committee, another Committee was constituted on 22.09.2012 which included the Deans of Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Faculty of Sciences, Faculty of Commerce & Business Management and Faculty of Arts, The Director
of SC/ST Cell, The Director, BC Cell, The Director, Women’s Studies Centre, The General Secretary, Minority Employees Association, etcetera, for purposes of fixing the roster points for the posts now sought to be filled up.
It is further pointed out that, after fixing the roster points and after the same are approved by the concerned departments of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, a notification was displayed on the notice boards on all the departments of the University, seeking objections as well as suggestions with regard to any discrepancies noticed by them to be submitted before 15.10.2012. Though the petitioner was working as an Assistant Professor in Chemistry Department, he never raised any objection for fixing the roster points. Thus, the University administration has acted strictly in accordance with the instructions passed on by the State Government in the matter of fixing the roster points to various subjects/departments, but also acted transparently by making available the information much prior to the impugned notification No.4/2012, was published on 21.12.2012. If the University or any of its officials have any other designs, they would not have resorted to acting so transparently in the matter. It is asserted in the counter affidavit that, there is great demand for the Mining Engineering subject taught at Kothagudem and that the University College of Engineering at Kothagudem is also offering the course in Business Management (MBA) and hence to fill up the existing vacancies in the Department of Mining Engineering, they were notified. It is also asserted in the counter affidavit that, the two posts of Assistant Professor in the Commerce & Business Management now notified are meant for meeting the requirement of one teacher each at the University College of Engineering and Technology, Warangal and the
University College of Engineering at Kothagudem. It is further contended that, since 5 courses are offered in the respective engineering colleges, the weekly teaching work load for an Assistant Professor in Commerce & Business Management is 15 hours, but not 3 hours, as is sought to be made out by the petitioner. There are 5 different courses offered at each college and each of those courses will have to be taught three hours per week. It was finally contended that, keeping the overall interests of the students pursuing various branches of engineering like Computer Science Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Electrical and Communication Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, etcetera, one post of Professor for Chemistry Department was allocated. The counter affidavit has also pointed out that the petitioner lacks the necessary locus to challenge the validity of the notification No.4/2012.
It is true that, entertaining the proposals submitted by the respondent-University, the State Government has sanctioned 37 teaching posts, without specifying the subjects for which these posts have been sanctioned. Consequently, it has become imperative for constituting a committee for identifying the needs of each department/faculty and for rational allocation of the sanctioned posts accordingly, to each of them. In my opinion, associating the Dean, Faculty of Commerce of Business & Management to the said Committee cannot be faulted at all. The inputs of such a Dean for optimum utilization of the scarce resources are undoubtedly a vital component in the allocation of these posts. Similarly, the association of the Dean of College Development Council is not improper either. After all, the Committee constituted is bound to interact with all the Heads of the Departments and also have an overall idea as to how best the
scarce allocation can be made effective use of. Therefore, no sinister designs can be attributed to the constitution of the Committee.
After the committee has identified the allocation of the posts to various departments, the University has constituted an appropriate Committee comprising of all the Deans and various other representatives for ensuring a fair and equitable distribution of the sanctioned posts amongst all the social sectors. From the material papers enclosed to the counter affidavit, it is clear that the respondentUniversity has requested all the Principals of the University Colleges and all the Heads of the Departments in the University to exhibit the notification relating to the roster points that have been fixed for various posts through its communication dated 29.09.2012. It also invited suggestions for rectifying any of the discrepancies in that regard. Thus, in September, 2012 itself, the information has percolated that, two posts of Assistant Professor in Commerce & Business Management have been allocated and that the last roster point stood at No.20 and hence the newly sanctioned two posts are fitted against roster point No.21 and 22 respectively, which are to be filled in with Open Category candidate and SC (Women) Category candidates respectively. Similarly, the non-availability of the post of an Assistant Professor in Chemistry Department has also become evident by September 2012 itself. In view of this material, which has been enclosed to the counter affidavit, it becomes difficult to conceive that the respondent-University had different designs or a hidden agenda with particular reference to the posts of Assistant Professors in Chemistry subject for the College of Engineering and Technology, Warangal.
It would be apt to remember that, the petitioner himself has
admitted that he is not qualified to compete for the post of a Professor and Associate Professor. Therefore, he ought not have made any issue out of notifying the various posts of Professors and Associate Professors in the impugned notification. To the extent that the impugned notification solicited to fill up the posts of Professors and Associate Professors, is beyond the competence of a challenge at the hands of this writ petitioner and therefore, no such issue can be examined at the hands of the writ petitioner herein.
Even otherwise, as to whether two posts of Professors in Mining Engineering and one post of Professor in Chemistry should be filled up or not, is a matter of careful and appropriate decision liable to be taken by the respondent-University. Courts clearly lack the expertise and knowledge to pronounce any opinion with regard to the requirements of the teaching faculty for a College of Engineering. The domain in this regard lies within the competence of the university, the State Government and the All India Council for Technical Education. In matters of this nature, Courts should be very slow to pronounce any opinion on any such controversy.
The petitioner, at best, can only make a grievance with regard to non-inclusion of a post of Assistant Professor for Chemistry subject. As was already noticed, one post of Professor and one post of Associate Professor for Chemistry subject were already notified. Whether one more post of Assistant Professor is also required as of now is a matter of value based judgment of the respondent-University. In the absence of any malicious intention or credible material, that purposefully and wantonly, one post of Assistant Professor in Chemistry subject is suppressed, the petitioner cannot maintain this lis in this Court. Except making vague suggestions the petitioner could not produce any
credible material to demonstrate that omission of one post atleast of Assistant Professor in Chemistry is a deliberate one on the part of the respondent-University.
Above all, the petitioner has secured M.Sc (Chemistry) Post Graduate Degree having passed the same in second class. The petitioner, and for that matter neither the respondent-University, has not taken this Court into confidence and shown as to the qualifications that are required to be possessed for one to be recruited as an Assistant Professor of Chemistry in a College of Engineering. If the requirement is that the candidate must possess a first class Post Graduate Degree in Chemistry and also possess a Ph.D degree, and or any other qualification, in such event, the petitioner will be lacking in the necessary qualification of possessing first class M.Sc degree. Since the petitioner has not made any such attempt to demonstrate about the requirements of the candidates to be recruited as an Assistant Professor in Chemistry, I do not pronounce any opinion on the objection contained in the counter affidavit that the petitioner is not qualified and eligible for recruitment as an Assistant Professor.
Above all, when a cyclic order of rotation of vacancies is observed for ensuring equitable distribution of vacancies amongst all social sectors such as Open Competition, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and other reserved segments, the petitioner is required to demonstrate more specifically as to where the post of an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, if sanctioned, would have been fitted. For instance, if the roster point indicates that it is reserved for SC/ST, BC or Women, then, if the petitioner does not belong to any of these respective segments, he cannot even compete.
Therefore, this writ petition is based upon an element of speculation. On a speculative aspect, the Courts shall not pronounce any opinion by entertaining proceedings under Article 226 of our Constitution.
I, finally do not find any merit in this writ petition and hence dismiss the same, but however, without costs. Miscellaneous applications if any, shall stand dismissed.
________________________________ NOOTY RAMAMOHANA RAO, J
22nd July, 2013 sp
3 issues framed by the court
Whether the notification inviting applications for teaching posts without including a post for Assistant Professor in Chemistry illegally deprives the petitioner of his right to compete for sanctioned
Whether the petitioner is eligible to challenge the allocation of teaching posts being overqualified for the advertised Assistant Professor position.
Whether there is sufficient evidence to conclude that the omission of an Assistant Professor post in Chemistry was due to malicious design rather than administrative discretion.
Petitioner
Kakatiya University
Nooty Ramamohana Rao
As recorded by the court registry
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