The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has quashed the notification issued by Bharathidasan University (BDU), Tiruchi pertaining to the direct recruitment to the posts of Professor, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor that treated the entire University as one unit while applying the reservation policy.
The court was hearing a batch of petitions that challenged the notification that was issued in 2019. The petitioners complained that instead of treating each Department individually for applying the reservation policy, the entire University was taken as one unit which was not in consonance with the State government’s reservation policy. Taking cognisance of reports submitted in the case, Justice Krishnan Ramasamy observed that a mere perusal of the same would show that the Vice-Chancellor of the University had sent a letter to the Higher Education Department in 2019 stating that the communal roster system taking each department in the University as one unit for the direct recruitment in teachers cadre will lead to legal issues since an advertisement was already been issued and applications were received from the candidates. Therefore, the University sought the support to proceed with the appointment with the already published advertisement taking all departments as one unit.
In order to avoid legal issues, the Bharathidasan University had requested the State Department to ratify its notification by considering the entire University as a single unit, as a special case, the judge observed.
The judge also took serious note of the fact that Higher Education Secretary Apoorva permitted the University to proceed with the appointment of teaching posts in Bharathidasan University by applying the University as one unit for reservation. By doing so, she has completely ignored the reservation policy of the State as well as the law settled by the Supreme Court.
“A member of all India service is expected to act in accordance with the Law, Rules and Regulations and established practices. The discretion conferred upon them cannot be abused or taken as a license to do what they like or dislike. They are expected to act with utmost professionalism of the highest degree and set a benchmark for their subordinates to follow”, the judge said.
In the present case, the court is constrained to remark that no professional approach or proper application of mind is evidenced from the conduct of the Secretary as she has not adhered to the conduct rules of All India Service. Therefore, the ability and suitability of her to hold the present position in the government required serious consideration, the judge said.
