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22] A perusal of the aforesaid Regulation, it is apparent that under the said UGC Regulation, while redefining that NET/SLET/SET shall remain the minimum eligibility condition for recruitment and appointment for Assistant Professors in Universities/Colleges/Institutions, an exemption has been granted to candidates who are or have been awarded a Ph.D. degree in compliance with the UGC (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Awards of M.Phil/Ph.D. Degree) Regulation, 2009, from the requirement of minimum eligibility condition of NET/SLET for recruitment and appointment to the said post of Assistant Professor or equivalent positions in Universities/Colleges/Institutions w.e.f. the said UGC Regulations of 2010 coming into force. What thus transpires from the above is that the Commission has laid down the minimum eligibility conditions for recruitment of Lecturers and Professors (now Assistant Professors) in Universities/Colleges/Institutions right from 1991, read with the regulations and amendments issued thereafter, as NET/SLET/SET is the essential minimum qualification for recruitment and appointment to such posts. However, an exemption is granted to a candidate who is or has been awarded a Ph.D. degree.

30] I am thus of the considered view that to get the UGC scale of pay, one should fulfill the UGC's prescribed norms, and for non-fulfillment of the same, one cannot claim the UGC's scale of pay. Hence, at the cost of repetition, I hold that the petitioner was not entitled to the regular UGC's scale of pay prior to 26.08.2010, i.e., when he did not have the requisite UGC norms, and only from 26.08.2010, i.e., when he acquired the Ph.D. degree, he was entitled to exemption of NET/SLET/SET eligibility requirements, and upon being so entitled, he was exempted accordingly.