Dr. Yashpal Sharma and Others vs State of Haryana and Others

Augustine George Masih, J.—Petitioners, who possesses Ph.D. degree, have approached this Court, praying for issuance of a writ of mandamus directing respondent No. 3-Haryana Public Service Commission (for short, "the Commission") to allow them to apply for the posts of Assistant Professors in pursuance of Advertisement No. 7 dated 22.01.2014 (Annexure P-1), vide which recruitment process for 1396 temporary posts of Assistant Professor (College Cadre) HES-II for various subjects was initiated. This prayer is primarily based upon a Division Bench judgment of this Court in Civil Writ Petition No. 2386 of 2014 (Rajeev and another Vs. State of Haryana and others), decided on 19.02.2014 (Annexure P-3).

The petitioners have approached this Court by asserting that they have completed their Ph.D. and were awarded degrees. In pursuance of the advertisement dated 24.01.2014 (Annexure P-1), they wanted to apply for the post of Assistant Professor (College Cadre). As per the conditions specified in the advertisement, National Eligibility Test (NET)/State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) has been fixed as the minimum eligibility condition for appointment to the posts of Assistant Professors in Colleges, which, as per the counsel for the petitioners, is not sustainable. In support of this contention, the counsel has placed reliance upon a Division Bench judgment of this Court in Rajeev''s case (supra), which stands allowed with a general direction that those candidates who have not passed the eligibility test but who have Ph.D. Degree to their credit, be considered for the post of Assistant Professor and, thus, his contention is that the said direction would make the petitioners also eligible for consideration for appointment to the posts of Assistant Professors. The petitioners therein [in Rajeev''s case (supra)] were permitted to submit their applications within 10 days from the date of passing of the order. Counsel further contends that as the condition of passing NET/SLET is no more a condition in the light of the Division Bench judgment of this Court in Rajeev''s case (supra) the same cannot be insisted upon by the respondents and an opportunity should have been granted to other eligible candidates to submit their applications. His contention is that a publication should have been issued by the Commission. However, no such exercise has been done.

The petitioners have now submitted application/representation dated 14.04.2014 (Annexure P-4) to the Secretary of the Commission but till date no response thereto has been received. Counsel contends that in the peculiar facts and circumstances, direction may be issued to the respondent-Commission to accept the application of the petitioners and consider them eligible for participating in the selection process. He further contends that the Division Bench of this Court has clearly held that imposition of condition of passing NET/SLET as a mandatory condition for consideration for appointment to the posts of Assistant Professors for the candidates, who have passed Ph.D., as unreasonable and unjust and, therefore, the said condition cannot be insisted upon by the Commission. As initially the applications were sought to be submitted on-line, the petitioners did not have any occasion to apply for the same as their application could not have been accepted because of the condition imposed in the advertisement with regard to qualifying the NET/SLET.

This contention of counsel for the petitioners cannot be accepted as the advertisement was issued on 24.01.2014. Had the petitioners been aggrieved of the said condition, they should have approached the Court prior to the last date of submission of the application, which was fixed as 21.02.2014. The petitioners slept over for a period of more than two months after the last date of submission of application has expired and has now approached the Court by way of present writ petition. It would not be out of way to mention here that the judgment passed by the Division Bench of this Court was dated 19.02.2014, which was also prior to the last date of receipt of the applications and the petitioners in that writ petition were permitted 10 days time to file their respective applications as they had approached the Court well in time.

The contention of counsel for the petitioners that the Commission should have published a corrigendum/explanation/clarification that candidates who were Ph.D. degree holders are also eligible for selection and appointment to the posts of Assistant Professors without passing NET/SLET, especially when the Division Bench has held that the said condition was unjust and unreasonable, cannot be accepted in the light of the fact that there is no such direction issued by the Division Bench of this Court, although there is a general observation made, directing the respondents that those candidates who have not passed the eligibility test but who have Ph.D. Degree to their credit, be considered for the posts of Assistant Professors but there is no such direction issued by the Division Bench for resorting to making the said judgment/decision public or for issuing a corrigendum/explanation/clarification in that regard. Therefore, the action of the Commission in not publishing a corrigendum/explanation/clarification cannot be faulted with.

Counsel then submits that the Commission has not yet initiated the process of selection as no date for interview has been fixed and, therefore, the petitioners are well in time in approaching the Court. This contention of counsel for the petitioners cannot be accepted in the light of the observations made by this Court in above paras of the order, where it has been stated that no application beyond 01.03.2014 would have been accepted by the Commission in the light of the order dated 19.02.2014 passed by the Division Bench of this Court in Rajeev''s case (supra).

Petitioners, at this belated stage, thus, cannot be granted the benefit as has been claimed by them in the present writ petition, especially when the Court vide its order dated 19.02.2014 in Rajeev''s case (supra) permitted only the petitioners in those writ petitions to submit their applications for consideration for appointment to the posts of Assistant Professors and that too within a period of 10 days from the date of order. Virtually, the intention of the Division Bench was quite clear and specific that it did not want to delay the process of selection and the minimum leverage was given and that too till 01.03.2014 to the petitioners in Rajeev''s case (supra) and other connected cases, which were disposed of by a common order. The petitioners unfortunately have not approached either the Commission or the Court prior to the said date.

In view of the above discussion, finding no merit in the present writ petition, the same stands dismissed in limine.