S.N. BHARGAVA, J.—This writ petition has been filed by 66 persons who are working as Professors/Associate Professor in various Departments of the University of Rajasthan detail whereof has been given in Schedule-A filed with the petition and it is not necessary to mention them here.

2. All the petitioners were appointed as Teachers in the cadres of Lecturers in the University of Rajasthan in different Departments. The source of recruitment for Teachers in the University of Rajasthan was direct recruitment from open market till 15-11-84 as per the Rajasthan University Teachers and Officers (Special Conditions of Service) Act, 1974. Persons who were appointed at particular posts used to continue on those particular posts for number of years for various reasons and they remained stagnant for a pretty long time. Realising this, and to avoid frustration among the teaching community, the Act of 1974 was amended by Amending Act No. 18 of 1984 published in the Rajasthan Gazette, vide notification dated 15-11-1984, by which new section (11) was added which provided for personal promotion against ex-cadre posts. It has been mentioned in Sec. 11 that Lecturers (Assistant Professor) were eligible for promotion to the post of Reader (Associate Professor) after having rendered minimum 15 years of service or 12 years service with the qualification laid down by the University and such promotions were required to be made on the basis of seniority cum merit., whereas Readers (Associate Professors) were eligible for promotion on the basis of merit alone. Such promotions could be given to a person only once u/s. 11. Most of the petitioners were promoted under the Scheme of this Sec. 11. Soon thereafter, direct recruitment was also made and most of the petitioners had not availed of the opportunity as they had already been appointed as per Sec. 11 added in 1984. The petitioners have mentioned a typical example of Dr. H.L. Agrawal who had been appointed as a Professor in the Department of Statistics vide order dated 29th October, 1987 in pursuance of the Scheme envisaged u/s. 11. He was called upon to act as the Member of the Selection Committee for selecting to the post of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor in Statistics, whereas he was also asked to appear for the interview for the post of Professor in Statistics.

3. University Grants Commission revised the pay scales of various teachers in different Universities of the country w.e.f. 1.1.1986 providing the revised pay scales as under:-

S.No. Name of the post Existing Pay Scale Revised Pay Scale

1. Professor 1500-2500 4500-150-5700 200-7300

2. Reader (Associate Professor 1200-1900 3700-125-4950 150-5700

3. Lecturer (Assitt. Professor) 700-1600 i) 2200-75-2800 100-4000 (Ordinary Pay-Scale).

ii) 3000-100-3500 125-5000 (Senior Pay Scale).

iii) 3700-125-4950 150-5700 (Selection Pay-Scale)

4. The Government of Rajasthan also accepted the said pay scales and conveyed the sanction of the Governor for revision of the scales of pay of various teachers of different Universities in Rajasthan w.e.f. 1.1.1986 vide letter dated 3.6.1988 (Annex.2). Another letter was issued on 25.6.88 (Anx. 3) in partial modification of the earlier letter dated 3.6.88 (Anx. 2) substituting sub-para (vii) as under :-

"(vii) The existing teachers in the University will have an option to continue to be governed by the provisions of the Excadre promotion Scheme contained in the Rajasthan Universities Teachers and Officers (Special Conditions of Service) Act, 1947 provided that they exercise that option in writing within two months of the date of issue of the order revising the scales of pay. Those who opt for the "Ex-cadre Promotion Scheme will also be entitled to the designations envisaged for various categories of teachers in the seheme, but the scales of pay will be as follows:-

Reader 3000-100-3500-125-5000

4500-150-5700".

In continuation of these two letters, still another letter was issued on 7.7.88 clarifying

Click Here to Read the rest of this document