Lucknow, Oct 16 The Allahabad High Court has quashed the Lucknow University Chancellor’s order cancelling the appointments of two associate professors, holding that special eligibility criteria prescribed for the faculty in Management and Business Administration would prevail over general eligibility requirements.
A division bench of Justices Alok Mathur and Amitabh Kumar Rai on Thursday delivered the verdict on separate petitions filed by Dr Himanshu Mohan and Dr Sangeeta Sahu.
The court upheld their selection and directed that they be granted all consequential benefits arising from their appointments.
Both the petitioners had been appointed as associate professors in the Department of Business Administration under the university’s Faculty of Commerce. However, the Chancellor had cancelled their appointments on November 27, 2017, under Section 68 of the Uttar Pradesh State Universities Act, 1973.
The action followed a complaint by Dr Ritu Narang challenging their appointments.
The Chancellor had held that the candidates had failed to produce documents showing that they had guided research scholars and doctoral students, a requirement under the general provisions of the university’s First Statutes.
In its verdict, the bench noted that the state government had incorporated the University Grants Commission’s 2010 regulations into the university’s First Statutes with effect from December 3, 2013. Statute 11.03.04(g) prescribed specific eligibility criteria for appointments in Management and Business Administration.
The bench held that these special provisions would prevail over the general eligibility norms. The fact that the Business Administration department functioned under the Faculty of Commerce could not render the subject-specific eligibility criteria ineffective.
The court further observed that when the selection committee had made appointments under the applicable special provisions and had not sought the disputed documents, the candidates’ failure to submit them could not, by itself, render their selection illegal.
Holding that the Chancellor’s order was based on an erroneous understanding of the law and facts, the bench set it aside and allowed both petitions.
Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel is the Chancellor of the University of Lucknow.
(PTI News)
