Mangaluru : With the Karnataka High Court terming the appointment of an assistant professor by the Mangalore University as “illegal,” there is a ray of hope for more than half a dozen candidates, who have filed cases against the Mangalore university seeking justice in the recruitments done by the former Vice Chancellor Prof T C Shivashankar Murthy for various posts of professors, associate professors and assistant professors.

In a major set back to the Mangalore university, the High Court (Writ Petition 17475/2014) ruled that one of the applicants Srinath B S, who had applied for the post of assistant professor at the University’s Micro Biology department at the Post Graduate Centre at Chikka Aluvara in Kodagu district, should be appointed instead of Dr Gautham S A, who has been selected by the university.

The said post was reserved for rural category in the general merit category and Srinath was the only candidate under rural category who had applied for the post.

According to the notification, the post was reserved for rural category in general merit and the candidate should have secured 55 per cent marks in MSc in Micro Biology. In addition, the candidate should have passed either the National Eligibility Test (NET) or the State-level Eligibility Test (SLET).

Though Srinath was the only eligible candidate as per the notification (he had obtained 65.05 per cent marks and had passed SLET), the university had selected Goutham, who did not fulfil all the conditions laid down by the university notification for the said post.

Though the respondents in the said case (Mangalore university, Goutham and the Higher Education department) argued that Goutham was selected as he had a PhD and he secured more points than Srinath, the High Court ruled that Srinath was not only entitled, but deserved to be appointed to the post, as he had fulfilled all the conditions of the notification whereas Goutham did not apply under rural category (as per the reservation in the notification).

The High Court also noted that the notification by the university did not contain a condition of cut off marks for suitability of the candidate and such a condition can not be imposed in the midst of the selection process.

Meanwhile, a senior professor, who did not wish to be quoted, said that the judgement of the High Court on the WP17475 clearly vindicated that most of the appointments made by former vice chancellor Prof T C Shivashankara Murthy, just on the verge of his relinquishing the office, were totally arbitrary, against the statutes, in violation of the UGC guidelines prescribed for filling the posts of the teaching faculty.

“The text of the judgement in unambiguous terms shows the wilful and deliberate manipulation made by the former vice chancellor to appoint his own chosen men,” he said and added that this clearly proves that the vice chancellor had made a mockery of the rules made by the UGC to prevent the elements of unfair, corrupt or nepotic consideration creeping into the selection process.”

It may be noted that many more such writ petitions are waiting on the doors of the Karnataka High Court, and the victims are eagerly waing for justice. Though the victims had approached the then Chancellor H R Bharadwaj, it did not yield any results.

However, with the present Chancellor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala ordering probe into the irregularities in Karnataka University, the eligible candidates who reportedly failed to make it in the selection process due to alleged irregularities in the selection process of Mangalore University are waiting with a hope.