T.R. Ramachandran Nair, J.

1. These writ petitions have been filed by the respective petitioners challenging the change in category-wise qualifying criteria for lectureship in the examination held on 24.6.2012 for making them eligible for acquiring National Eligibility Test ('NET' for short). I shall refer to the facts pleaded in W.P.(C) Nos.22187/2012, 22280/2012 and 26468 since common grounds have been raised by various petitioners.

2. W.P.(C) No.22187/2012 is at the instance of the petitioner who is a postgraduate in Humanities (M.A. - Malayalam). She has secured M.A. from Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady in 1996 with 58% marks. She passed M.Phil (Malayalam) in the year 2012 from Madurai Kamaraj University.

3. It is pointed out in the writ petition that the University Grants Commission (for short 'U.G.C.') has made the "University Grants Commission (Minimum Qualifications required for Appointment and Career Advancement of Teachers in Universities and Institutions Affiliated to it) Regulations 2000. For the post of Lecturers under clause 1.3.3, the following qualifications have been fixed.

"Good academic record with at least 55% of the marks or an equivalent grade of B in the 7 point scale with latter grades O, A, B, C, D, E and F at Master's degree level, in the relevant subject from an Indian University, or an equivalent degree from a foreign University.

Besides fulfilling the above qualifications, candidates should have cleared the eligibility test (NET) for Lecturers conducted by the UGC, CSIR or similar test accredited by the UGC.

Note:- NET shall remain the compulsory requirement for appointment as Lecturer even for candidates having Ph.D. Degree. However, the candidate who have completed M.Phil degree or have submitted Ph.D. Thesis in the concerned subject up to 31st December, 1993 are exempted for appearing in the NET examination."

The note therein is important which shows that NET is a compulsory requirement for appointment as Lecturer. Therefore, the candidate will have to clear NET as evident from para 1.3.3. The UGC and CISR have to conduct the same also.

4. Ext.P1 is the notification issued by the third respondent UGC. There are three papers, and all of them consisted of only objective type questions. The minimum marks to be obtained by the candidates for papers 1, 2 and 3 are as shown below:

The scheme of examination is contained in Ext.P2 and going by the same, for the Ist paper the total mark is 100, for the IInd paper also the same is 100 and for IIIrd paper it is 150. For the first paper, out of 60 questions, 50 questions will have to be attempted, for the second paper, there are 50 questions and all of them are compulsory and for paper 3, there are 75 questions and all are compulsory. The duration of hours of examination is 1 ½ hours each for papers 1 and 2 and 2 ½ hours for paper 3 which are conducted in sessions 1 and 2 respectively.

5. The test was conducted accordingly on 24.6.2012 and the petitioner appeared for all the three papers. The carbon print out of OMR answer sheets were allowed to be carried by the candidates which have been produced as Exts.P4 and P5. Answer key is published for all the papers which are produced as Ext.P6 series.

6. The writ petitions have been filed when, on 18.9.2012 the University Grants Commission notified the minimum qualifying percentage of marks. It is averred that the change was notified only after the evaluation of answer papers and immediately before the publication of results. The change notified is extracted in para 5 of the writ petition which is as follows: