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6.I heard Mr.G.Sankaran, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Mr.R.Govindasamy, learned Special Government Pleader appearing for the respondents and perused the entire records.

7.It is the contention of the learned counsel appearing for the writ petitioner that the 1st respondent initially wanted to rule out the eligibility of the petitioner for weightage marks even from the date of acquisition of M.Phil. degree on the ground that the M.Phil. course was done through correspondence and that however, subsequently the 1st respondent came forward to recognise that the petitioner was entitled to exemption from passing SLET/NET to become eligible for the post of Assistant Professor as it was notified in the corrigendum issued by 1st respondent that for seeking that exemption from SLET/NET, the M.Phil. degree should have been completed before 14.06.2006. It is the further contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that even before the said date, the petitioner had acquired M.Phil. degree and had become eligible for exemption from passing SLET/NET right from the date of his completing the M.Phil. degree course.

8.It is the further contention of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner that even if the period of his teaching experience as guest lecture prior to the date of acquisition of M.Phil. degree is to be disregarded for the grant of weightage marks for teaching experience, he was eligible to claim weightage marks from the date of passing the examination conducted for the grant of M.Phil. degree, which was the date on which he became eligible for exemption from passing SLET/NET and that, if such a contention was made, he ought to have been awarded full marks (15 marks) for teaching experience as he had put in 8 years of teaching experience.

9.The first and foremost contention of the learned Government Pleader on behalf of the respondents is that though the petitioner did acquire M.Phil. degree prior to 14.06.2013, he became eligible for exemption from SLET/NET for U.G. level teaching only from the date of notification issued by the UGC in F.No.1-1/2002/(PS) Exemp. Dated 14.06.2006 and that the same was the reason why his teaching experience was counted from 14.06.2006 onwards as per the revised awarding of marks on various categories.

10.As an answer to the above said contention, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner would submit that though the notification was issued on 14.06.2006, stating that the candidates having Ph.D. degree for teaching P.G. level and U.G. level and the candidates having M.Phil. degree for teaching U.G. level were exempted from SLET/NET, it could not be construed that the exemption would be applicable from the date of issuance of the said notification and on the other hand, the concerned candidate would have become eligible for such exemption right from the date of acquisition of the Ph.D. or M.Phil. degree, as the case may be. According to the contention of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, the teaching experience of the writ petitioner prior to the date of the aforesaid notification, namely 14.06.2006, cannot be totally ignored and that, at the best, his teaching experience from the date of his completion of M.Phil. degree should be taken into account for awarding weightage marks, as he became eligible for exemption from the date of completion of M.Phil. degree.