The court affirmed the validity of the selection process for Assistant Professors and clarified that guest lecturer experience can't always be excluded for direct recruitment under regulatory guidelines.

JUDGMENT :

HARISANKAR V. MENON, J.

1. These writ petitions pertain to certain disputes regarding the selection and appointment to the post of Assistant Professor (English) at the All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram.

2. The college invited applications from female candidates for appointment to the post of Assistant Professor in various subjects, including English, as seen from the notification dated 26.09.2021. The norms for the selection as above are stated to be pursuant to the prescription issued by the University of Kerala. In response to the notification issued as above, various applications were received. The applications were considered by the scrutiny committee, leading to the preparation of a score sheet. In this score sheet, candidates were included under the open merit and community list. The petitioners in W.P(C) No.36146 of 2022 were included at Serial Nos.4 and 30 under open merit. The name of the 2^nd petitioner also figures at serial No.4 in the community merit list. Respondents 6, 7, and 8 in the said writ petition were also included in the open merit; the 8^th respondent also figuring in the community merit list. The petitioners state that for a candidate to be called for the interview, one should obtain at least 60 marks in the open merit quota and 55 marks under community quota. They further state that respondents 6, 7, and 8 had scored 60, 60, and 56 marks, respectively, and therefore, got included in the respective quotas. The petitioners state that the inclusion of respondents 6, 7, and 8 as above was incorrect and arbitrary since:

i. The 6^th respondent was granted two marks each for the publication of three articles in journals, but one article was not published in a journal, but in a “textbook” and hence could not be considered to be “Peer Reviewed or UGC listed journal” as required under the norms referred to earlier produced along with W.P(C) No.36146 of 2022 as Ext.P2. Therefore, the petitioners state that as regards the 6^th respondent, two marks have to be deducted, in which event, she only has 58 marks, on account of which, she is not at all to be interviewed.

ii. The 7^th respondent was granted two marks each for two articles, published in the Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, which is only a “predatory journal”. Therefore, the six marks awarded to the 7^th respondent also require to be deducted, in which event, her score would be 54.

iii. As regards the 8^th respondent, since the article published is a “joint/co-authored one,” full marks could not be granted, and if at all, only 1.4 marks could be awarded.

Therefore, the petitioners have instituted W.P(C) No.36146 of 2022, seeking the following reliefs:

i. Issue a writ of certiorari or other appropriate writ, direction, or order to call for the records leading to the interview, selection, and appointment of respondents 6 to 8 to the post of Assistant Professor (English) in the 4^th respondent, All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram, and quash the same.

ii. Issue a writ of mandamus or other appropriate writ order or direction to respondents 1 to 4 to appoint petitioners or other eligible candidates from Ext.P3 on the basis of merit or else to conduct a fresh selection for appointment to the post of Assistant Professor (English) in 4^th respondent – All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram.

The 8^th respondent in W.P(C) No.36146 of 2022 was initially appointed by the college pursuant to an appointment order dated 01.06.2022, after successfully completing the selection process. However, a show cause memo dated 18.08.2022 is issued by the ‘Manager’ of the college informing that since one of the publications was a co-a