Regulation 10(f)(iii) of the 2018 Regulations applies to Assistant Professors, requiring prior teaching experience to be counted for shortlisting candidates.

JUDGMENT :

DIPANKAR DATTA, J.

THE CHALLENGE

1. Assail in these civil appeals is to the common judgment and order dated 18th January, 2024¹ [impugned order] passed by a Division Bench of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad² [High Court, hereafter] whereby the High Court disposed of a writ petition, two special appeals and one review petition.³ [Writ-A No. 580 of 2023, Special Appeal Defective No. 187 of 2022, Special Appeal Defective No. 257 of 2022 and Civil Misc. Review Application No. 398 of 2023] All but one of the proceedings were at the instance of Gitanjali Pandey.⁴ [Respondent 1] The remaining one was at the instance of one Brahma Deo (Respondent 1 in Civil Appeal No. 12413/2024).

RESUME OF FACTS

2. Relevant facts, pertinent for disposal of the present appeal, are summed up as under:

(a) Respondent 1 was an aspirant for the post of ‘Assistant Professor’ in Allahabad University and its affiliated colleges. As per her pleadings, between October 2004 and March 2010 (approximately 5½ years), she worked as a contractual faculty in Jawad Ali Shah Imambara Girls PG College (affiliated to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay University, Gorakhpur) at a monthly cash honorarium of Rs. 5000/-. Thereafter, between 2016 and 2021, she claims to have worked as a guest faculty in different constituent colleges of Allahabad University at different honoraria ranging from Rs. 25,000/- to Rs. 50,000/-.

(b) Advertisements:

(i) On 28th September 2021, Allahabad University published an advertisement for appointment on the posts of Assistant Professors in various disciplines. A total of 4 (four) posts were advertised for Sanskrit. Respondent 1 applied for appointment on the single advertised post in the unreserved category.

(ii) On 30th August 2022, a constituent college of Allahabad University, viz. Iswar Saran Degree College (ISDC), issued an advertisement which, inter alia, invited applications from eligible candidates for appointment on the post of Assistant Professor in Sanskrit.

(iii) On 28th November 2022, another constituent college of Allahabad University, viz. Allahabad Degree College (ADC), issued a similar advertisement.

(c) Pursuant to all the above advertisements, Respondent 1 duly applied for appointment on the posts.

(d) The requisite qualifications for appointment on the posts of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor are prescribed by the University Grants Commission (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and other Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2018.⁵ [2018 Regulations, hereafter] Clause 4 thereof provides for the minimum qualifications required for the post of Assistant and Associate Professor. It is not in dispute that Respondent 1 does possess the requisite educational qualifications for appointment as Assistant Professor in Sanskrit.

(e) The procedure for shortlisting candidates for interview is given in the note to Reg. 4.1, which provides for shortlisting on the basis of an academic score prepared in accordance with Table 3A (for universities) and 3B (for colleges). Hence, for shortlisting candidates for the purposes of interview, Allahabad University would score candidates as per the criteria laid down in Table 3A and the affiliated colleges in Table 3B.

(f) As per clause 7 of Tables 3A and 3B, 2 (two) marks are to be granted to a candidate for every year of his/her teaching experience or Post Doctoral experience. Since the contents of both the tables are similar, we propose to reproduce Table 3A later in this judgment.

(g) Despite Respondent 1 fulfilling the eligibility criteria, she was not shortlisted for the interview as her score did not reach the cutoff marks. This happened because she was not awarded any marks under clause 7 in Table 3A for “Teaching/Post Doctoral experience.” Her past teaching experiences on contractual basis and as a guest faculty were not counted as ‘teaching experience’ by Allaha