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2017 Supreme(Raj) 2047
IN THE HIGH COURT OF RAJASTHAN
Nirmaljit Kaur, J.
Rajendra Kumar Nagda - Appellant
Vs.
State of Rajasthan - Respondent
Civil Writ Petition No. 2872 of 2017
Decided On : 01-06-2017
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant : Mr. G.R. Punia, Mr. Yashpal Khileree
For the Respondent: Mr. N.M. Lodha, Mr. K.L. Thakur, Mr. V.D. Dadhich, Mr. Harish Purohit, Mr. Muktesh Maheshwari
Headnote:
Indian Veterinary Council Act, 1984 – Section 24, Section 2(zl), Section 49 – Constitution of India – Article 348 – Animal sciences – Qualification of appellants – Petitioner is Dean in Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences – He applied for post of Vice Chancellor in said University in pursuance to advertisement dated – As per Condition of said advertisement, one of eligibility conditions is that a candidate should possess requisite veterinary qualification as prescribed in Indian Veterinary Council Act, 1984 for post of Vice-Chancellor – Petitioner being aggrieved with said condition has filed present writ petition – Held, Finally, Mr. Misra attempted to agitate question of some of nominations being illegal as candidates who had been nominated had not applied in time prescribed date being – This contention cannot be entertained for two reasons – First is that no such point appears to have been raised before High Court when writ petition was disposed of – It is only at stage of review that this matter seems to have been pressed – Secondly, it has been held by us that appellants had no right to challenge nominations which had been made by Central Government – It was not, therefore, open to them to assail any of nominations which had been made – Writ Petition Dismissed
Nirmaljit Kaur, J.
The petitioner is Dean in the Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner. He applied for the post of Vice Chancellor in the said University in pursuance to the advertisement dated 06.02.2017. As per the Condition No. 2 of the said advertisement, one of the eligibility conditions is that a candidate should possess the requisite veterinary qualification as prescribed in the Indian Veterinary Council Act, 1984 for the post of Vice-Chancellor. The petitioner being aggrieved with the said condition has filed the present writ petition with the following prayers :-
"(a) Quash the constitution of Search Committee for appointment to the post of Vice Chancellor, Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Bikaner being contrary to the provisions of Section 24 of the Act of 2010;
(b) modify the condition No. 2 prescribed in advertisement (Annx.1) so as to be in consonance with the provisions of sub-section (4) of Section 49 of the Act of 2010 thereby providing relaxation to the in-service candidates and the petitioner in particular;
(c) the nomination of Convener be declared illegal and contrary to the provisions of Section 24 of the Act of 2010; and"
2. While praying for the relief claimed in prayer (a), it was contended that the constitution of the Search Committee itself is in conflict as the English version of sub-section (2) of Section 24 of the Rajasthan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Act, 2010 (hereinafter 'the Act of 2010') provides that one member (out of four) shall be nominated by the Veterinary Council of India, whereas, the Hindi version of sub-section (2) of Section 24 of the Act of 2010 provides that ^^,d O;fDr fo|k ifj"kn }kjk funsZf'kr fd;k tk;sxkA** Thus, as per English Version, one of the members has to be nominated by the Veterinary Council of India and as per the Hindi Version, one of the members has to be nominated by the Academic Council. Therefore, both English and Hindi versions are different and till both versions are corrected in consonance with each other, the Search Committee for selection to the post of Vice Chancellor cannot be permitted.
3. With respect to the Prayer (c), learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that nomination of the Convener of the Search Committee is per se, illegal and de-hors the provisions contained in the Act of 2010 because the controversy to Section 24 of the Act of 2010 provides that person nominated shall not be a member of any of the authorities of the Universities but the person so indicated in the advertisement nominated as Convener of the Search Committee is none else than a retired Professor and Faculty Member and was also the member of the Board. He is presently a pensioner of the respondent - University, therefore, he cannot be said to be a person not having any personal interest in the University. His nomination is contrary to Section 24 of the Act of 2010.
4. While praying for modification of Condition No. 2 of the advertisement, it was vehemently argued that the respondent-University has committed illegality in providing minimum eligibility criteria i.e. one should have recognized veterinary qualification as described in the Indian Veterinary Council Act, 1984 for appointment to the post of Vice-Chancellor as the same is contrary to sub-section (4) of Section 49 of the Act of 2010.
5. Reply has been filed on behalf of the respondent Nos. 1 and 4 being the State and the Search Committee, respectively.
6. Mr. N.M. Lodha, learned Advocate General appearing for the State, at the outset, sought permission to raise the preliminary objection. By way of preliminary objection, it was submitted that as per Section 24(3)(a), a candidate for the post of Vice Chancellor must have recognized veterinary qualification as defined in the Indian Veterinary Council Act, 1984 i.e. Bachelor of Veterinary Science and
