STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Justice B.S. Walia of Jammu Kashmir High Court (Jammu Wing) has quashed the decision of the Board of Research Studies, University of Jammu (JU) dated November 18, 2014 and also the decision of Dean Research Studies dated November 8, 2016 whereby the request of the petitioner Juhie Mohan, daughter of Anil Kumar, resident of Talab Tillo Jammu for conversion of her status from whole time PhD Scholar to part time Ph.D Scholar in discipline of Sociology was rejected.
In an approved for reporting judgment, Justice Walia after hearing Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Rahul Raina and Supriya Chouhan appearing for the petitioner whereas Advocate W.S. Nargal appearing for Jammu University directed the Vice Chancellor, Registrar and Dean Research Studies University of Jammu to pass fresh orders in accordance with the observations made in this judgment and on the same reasoning on the basis of which the cases of other two Ph.D whole time Scholars i.e. Asha Rani and Usha Sharma were considered. The Court further directed that the needful shall be done within a period of six weeks from today.
Advocate S.S Ahmed appearing for the petitioner submitted that the petitioner Juhie Mohan got herself registered as whole time Ph.D Scholar in Sociology Department on May 10, 2012 and similarly two more scholars namely Asha Rani and Usha Sharma were also registered as whole time Scholars on May 11, 2012 and May 5, 2012 respectively. He further submitted that the petitioner worked as a whole time Research Scholar in the Department upto July 14, 2013 under the supervision of her Supervisor Prof. Abha Chouhan and it was on July 15, 2013 the petitioner joined FM Radio Station (92.7 Big FM) at Jammu as Radio Jockey (RJ).
Advocate S.S. Ahmed further pointed out that on August 1, 2013 the petitioner moved a formal representation to the Head Sociology Department intimating her joining as Radio Jockey and requested that in view of completion of one year as a whole time Scholar her status may be converted to part time scholar as per proviso to Statute No. 13 of the Statutes governing Ph.D Degree.
Advocate Ahmed further highlighted that similarly the other two scholars namely Asha Rani and Usha Sharma also represented to the Head Sociology Department that they have also been appointed as Social Workers in Health and Medical Education Department, J&K Government and their status be also changed from whole time Ph.D Scholars to part time Ph.D Scholars.
Consequently, Board of Research Studies let down the request of petitioner solely on the ground that she is working in a private concern unlike the other two scholars.
Advocate Ahmed also invited the attention of the court to the order dated June 3, 2016 when the State High Court had directed Board of Research Studies to reconsider the claim of the petitioner afresh on the same analogy as has been done in the case of similarly situated persons for change of Ph.D status from whole time to part time.
During the course of arguments Advocate S.S. Ahmed submitted that the Board of Research Studies again rejected the case of the petitioner after wrongly placing reliance upon Statute 8 (a) (IV) of the statutes governing Ph.D Degree when the case of the petitioner was to be considered under proviso to Statute 13.
On the other hand, Advocate W.S. Nargal vehemently contented that the case of the petitioner was rightly rejected in the light of Statute 7 (a) read with Statute 8(a) (IV) as the petitioner had taken up a private job as Radio Jockey and moreover there is a specific bar in terms of Statute 13 and thus the petitioner cannot claim parity on the basis of Asha Rani and Usha Sharma.
After hearing both the sides at length Justice B.S. Walia observed that court finds merit in the submission of Advocate S.S. Ahmed that the petitioner and Asha Rani and Usha Sharma being identically situated except for the petitioner having got employment in the private sector.