HC quashes re-advertisement, imposes Rs 25,000 as cost on BGSBU for delay in appointment of faculty

 STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: In a landmark judgment Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur of Jammu and Kashmir High Court (Jammu Wing) has quashed the re-advertisement Notification No. BGBSU/ Reg/15/3083-3099 dated 29th May, 2015 for the post of Assistant Professor in Urdu Department of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU), Rajouri. While quashing the said re-advertisement, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur further directed the University to consider the petitioner’s case for appointment in terms of the recommendations made by 9 Member Selection Committee pursuant to the advertisement notification No.BGBSU/Estab/11/3779-3799 dated 22nd July 2011 by passing appropriate orders within a period of two months. Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur while expressing displeasure over denial of appointment to the petitioner despite being meritorious and was being dragged into the present controversy directed the university to award Rs.25,000 as cost to the petitioner.
These court directions were passed in a writ petition filed by Dr. Mushtaq Ahmed Wani (D.Lit) Urdu Literature challenging re-advertisement Notification No. BGSBU/ Reg/15/3083-3099 dated 29th May, 2015 whereby one post of Assistant Professor in Urdu Department was re-advertised and the Executive Council of the University had decided not to act upon the recommendations of the 9 Member Selection Committee which had recommended petitioner for the post of Assistant Professor Urdu pursuant to advertisement Notification No.BGBSU/Estab/11/3779-3799 dated 22nd July, 2011. After hearing Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Irfaan Mohammad Khan and Rahul Raina appearing for the petitioner, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur observed that the University has taken a stand that after the recommendations were made by the Selection Committee pursuant to advertisement Notification dated 22nd July, 2011, two candidates namely Mehmood Ahmed and Abdul Mehmood who had similarly participated in the selection process with the petitioner had subsequently raised objections regarding the appointment of Dr. Aziz Abbas as a subject expert and according to the representation the said expert was Head, Department of Persian Studies, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and had no expertise in the subject of Urdu, therefore, could not have been so appointed.
Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur further observed that the counsel for the petitioner Advocate S.S. Ahmed has drawn the attention of the Court to the profile of the subject expert, which forms Annexure-F to the Supplementary Affidavit filed by him and on a perusal of the same, it can be seen that the said subject expert was the Head, Department of Urdu and Persian, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar and his qualification was M.A. (Persian), PhD and M.A. in Urdu.
Justice D.S. Thakur further observed that qualification profile of the subject expert had all the attributes of being nominated as a subject expert for selecting the candidate for the post of Assistant Professor in Urdu.
The Court further observed that law is well settled that a candidate having participated in the process of selection and finding himself unable to get selected cannot be permitted to challenge the process of selection and in this regard the court placed reliance upon the judgment of the Apex Court in case titled Om Parkash Shukla V/s Akhilesh Kumar Shukla AIR 1986 SC 1043. Observing the process of re-advertisement as illegal and arbitrary, Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur allowed the writ petition and quashed the advertisement Notification No. BGBSU/ Reg/15/3083-3099 dated 29th May, 2015 and directed the University to consider the petitioner’s case of appointment by passing appropriate orders within a period of two months. The Court also directed the University to award Rs.25000/- as cost to the petitioner.JNF