Rajasthan High Court - Jaipur
Ity Patni vs University Of Rajasthan And Ors on 7 January, 2019
Author: Alok Sharma
Bench: Alok Sharma
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN
BENCH AT JAIPUR
S.B. Civil Writs No. 10343/2018
Ity Patni D/o Shri Sudhir Kumar Patni W/o Shri Somya Chobe, By
Caste Patni, Resident Of 1840 Choube Ka Chowk, Ghee Walon Ka
Rasta, Johri Bazar, Jaipur.
----Petitioner
Versus
University Of Rajasthan, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg, Jaipur
Through Vice Chancellor
Registrar, University Of Rajasthan, Jawahar Lal Nehru Marg,
Jaipur.
Controller Of Examination, University Of Rajasthan, Jawahar Lal
Nehru Marg, Jaipur.
----Respondents
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Anoop Dhand
For Respondent(s) : Mr.AK Sharma, Sr. Counsel with Mr.
Rachit Sharma
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ALOK SHARMA
Order
07/01/2019
The petitioner has prayed that the respondent-
University of Rajasthan (hereafter 'the UOR') be directed to treat
the degree of Masters in Business Administration (hereafter 'MBA')
as equivalent to M.Com in Business Administration and accordingly
consider her eligible for appointment to the post of Assistant
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Professor (Business Administration) in the Department of
Commerce, UOR.
Ordinance 141E of the UOR Ordinances deals with the
faculties of Arts, Humanities, Sciences, Social Sciences,
Commerce, Law and subjects of Library Science, Drawings &
Paintings and Mass Communication. For the purposes of
appointment to the post of Assistant Professor in the aforesaid
faculties, candidates are inter-alia required to have a good
academic record with at least 55% marks (or an equivalent grade
in a point scale wherever grading system is followed) at the
Master's Degree level in a relevant subject (underlining mine)
from an Indian University or an equivalent degree from an
accredited foreign University.
The petitioner has passed her MBA in the first division
from the Rajasthan Technical University. She states that a MBA is
a post graduate qualification in Business Administration and as the
petitioner has a first division therein, she satisfies the academic
requirement under Ordinance 141-E of the UOR Ordinances for
appointment as Assistant Professor (Business Administration) in
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the Department of Commerce, UOR. It has been submitted that
however the respondent-UOR seeking to undercut the petitioner's
chances subsequent to the advertisement dated 22.5.2017
inviting applications inter-alia for the post of Assistant Professor
(Business Administration), Department of Commerce, proceeded
to issue a purported "important information" on 27.4.2018, inter-
alia providing that for the post of Assistant Professor (Business
Administration), the applicants must be M.Com (Business
Administration) and not post graduate in other streams of
commerce or management. It has been alleged that this
tantamounts to a change in the Rules of the game midway in the
process of appointment to the post of Assistant Professors
(Business Administration) in the Department of Commerce, UOR
and is not legally sustainable. It has been submitted that a
degree of Masters (Business Administration) is equivalent to a
M.Com. (Business Administration). Reliance in support of the
contention has been placed on the judgment of this Court in the
case of Kailash Chandra Meena and Others Versus Rajasthan
Public Service Commission and others (SBCWP No. 18837/2012)
(4 of 9) [CW-10343/2018]
and another connected matter; decided on 27.4.2013. It has been
submitted that the Court in the aforesaid judgment held that a
MBA with specialization in functional and related areas as also in
Masters of Human Resource Management (MHRM), Management
Information Base (MIB) and Masters in Management Studies
(MMS) as equivalent to M.Com (Business Administration). It has
been submitted that in this view of the matter, the purported
"important information" dated 27.4.2018 issued by the UOR is of
no avail and the petitioner with a M.B.A. is entitled to be
considered for appointment to the post of Assistant Professor
(Business Administration) in the Department of Commerce, UOR.
Per contra, Mr. AK Sharma, Sr. Counsel with Mr. Rachit
Sharma appearing for the respondent-UOR submitted that point
no. 8 of the "important information" put in public domain by the
UOR on 27.4.2018 is merely clarificatory in nature and does not
amount to any change in the Rules of game in the mid of the
selection process. It has been submitted that on bare reading of
Ordinance 141 E of the UOR Ordinances it is evident that for
appointment as Assistant Professor in any subject a Master's
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Degree level in the relevant subject is a sine qua non. No
equivalence except a degree from an accredited foreign university
as offered is contemplated. It has been submitted that the
petitioner admittedly possesses only a MBA, which is a technical /
professional degree and not an academic degree, as required for
appointment to the post of Assistant Professor (Business
Administration) in the Department of Commerce, UOR. It has
been submitted that the judgment of Coordinate Bench of this
Court in the case of Kailash Chandra Meena Versus Rajasthan
Public Service Commission (supra) turned on its own facts where
RPSC had subsequent to the initial Notification calling for
applications for appointment to the post of Lecturers (Business
Administration) in Government Colleges requiring M.Com
(Business Administration) as the necessary qualification provided
that a MBA with specialization in functional and related areas as
also degrees of MHRM, MIB and MMS would be considered
equivalent to M.Com (Business Administration). It has been
submitted that no such factual situation obtains in the instant case
as no similar Notification by the UOR or for that matter the State
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of Rajasthan has been issued or operating Ordinance suitable
amended. In fact the requisite qualification for the post of
Assistant Professor (Business Administration) has to be considered
strictly as per the University of Rajasthan Ordinance i.e. 141E. The
said Ordinances have been engineered by subject experts and it is
well settled that the Court in the exercise of its equitable
extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of
India cannot interfere with expert opinion unless such opinion is
palpably unsustainable being perverse or vitiated by malafide.
That is not the case here. The case of the petitioner therefore is
not at par with that of Kailash Chandra Meena Versus RPSC
(supra) and reference thereto is wholly in-apposite. It has been
further submitted that mere fact that the petitioner was allowed to
participate in the selection process is of no event as a bare perusal
of E-Admit Card issued to her shows that she was only
provisionally so permitted to appear in the Computer Based
Examination (CBE). Such provisional permission did not entail a
recognition of her eligibility for the post of Assistant Professor
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(Business Administration), Department of Commerce, UOR in
terms of UOR Ordinances.
Mr. AK Sharma also referred to University Grants
Commission's regulation 4.4.1 which is pari-materia with
Ordinance 141E of the UOR Ordinances. It has been submitted
that it is thus evident that an appointment to the post of Assistant
Professor (Business Administration), Department of Commerce,
UOR has to be at the minimum mandatorily consonant therewith,
albeit a University is free to prescribe higher qualifications. Mr.
A.K. Sharma submitted that in this view of the matter the writ
petition is without force.
Heard. Considered.
A perusal of the Ordinance 141E of the UOR Ordinances
as also Regulation 4.4.1 of the UGC Regulations make it evident
that for appointment to the post of Assistant Professors in the
Universities, a post - graduate qualification with a minimum of
55% in the subject concerned (underlining mine) is absolutely
essential. The post in issue in the instant petition is Assistant
Professor (Business Administration) in the Department of
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Commerce, UOR. I am of the considered view that the post
graduate requirement for the post of Assistant Professor in the
Department of Commerce of a University would necessarily be
academic and not a technical / professional one. An MBA is no
doubt a post graduate qualification but it it plainly not an
academic qualification (obtained under the Department of
Commerce) as it is, only following approval of the course by the
All India Council for Technical Education, from the Rajasthan
Technical University. I am also of the considered view that the
judgment in the Coordinate Bench of this Court in the case of
Kailash Chandra Meena Versus RPSC (supra) on which much
emphasis was laid by Mr. Anoop Dhand, counsel for the petitioner
does not attract to the facts of this case. That was a case in which recruitment to the post of Lecturers in Business Administration in Government colleges in the State were being made through the RPSC under a wholly distinct regime. Thereunder RPSC had initially given out through its advertisement, the academic qualification / eligibility for candidates seeking such appointment to be a M.Com (Business Administration) but subsequently by way (9 of 9) [CW-10343/2018] of a Corrigendum thereto had also notified the qualification of Masters in Business Administration with specialization in functional and related areas as also one in MHRM, MIB and MMS as equivalent to M.Com (Business Administration) for appointment of the Lecturers. There is no such order of equivalence in the instant case, if there could at all be, in view of UOR Ordinance i.e. 141-E and the UGC Regulations (in the instant case Regulation 4.4.1) both statutory in nature governing appointment to the post of Assistant Professors in various subjects in the University of Rajasthan .
The upshot of the aforesaid discussion is that there is no force in the petition. It is accordingly dismissed.
(ALOK SHARMA),J DK Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)