JUDGMENT :

Two pedagogues are fighting amongst themselves for getting appointment as an Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences of the Mahatma Gandhi University. Pursuant to Ext.P2 notification, an interview was conducted and the 4th respondent was declared as the first rank holder, while the writ petitioner received a close second.

2. By the time the 4th respondent got himself relieved from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and came down to join the 3rd respondent, petitioner had obtained a stay of appointment from this Court in this case. Thus the post of Associate Professor in the School of Social Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, lies unfilled for the last more than two and a half years.

3. Grievance of the writ petitioner is that selection and appointment of the 4th respondent was highly arbitrary and unreasonable, since he lacks the qualification prescribed for the post and failed to satisfy the eligibility criteria, which rendered the 4th respondent even incompetent to participate in the interview, let alone be selected. The writ petition, which initially contained only seven documents as exhibits and five grounds has, by the time it was heard, transformed