2017 Supreme(Jhk) 632
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
SHREE CHANDRASHEKHAR, J.
Dr. Dibyendu Mazumder, son of Late Brajendra Kumar Mazumdar - Petitioner
Versus
Union of India - Respondents
W.P.(S) No. 5312 of 2016
Decided On : 28-04-2017
For the Petitioner:Mr. Abhay Kumar Singh, Sr. Adv. Mr. Ashish Jha, Advocate Mr. L.P. Singh, Advocate Mr. Mayank Mohit Sinha, Advocate
For the Respondents:Ms. Bakshi Vibha, Sr. P.C., Mr. Anup Kumar Agrawal, JC to SCV, Dr. Ashok Kumar Singh, Advocate, Mr. Rajiv Ranjan, Sr. Advocate, Mr. Shresth Gautam, Advocate Mr. Shray Mishra, Advocate, Mr. Gaurav Sharma, Advocate Mr. Anil Kumar Sinha, Advocate C.A.V.
The main legal point established in the judgment is that the appointment and election of the petitioner were illegal due to contravention of statutory provisions, lack of jurisdiction, and absence of legal infirmity in the impugned order.
Headnote:
Dentists Act - Appointment, Election, Termination - Section 3, Section 57A, Section 58
Fact of the Case:
The petitioner, a Dental Surgeon, was appointed as Honorary Visiting Professor in a Dental College by the University. The University terminated his appointment and cancelled his election as a member of the Dental Council of India (DCI). The petitioner challenged the jurisdiction of the Vice-Chancellor to terminate his appointment and election.
Finding of the Court:
The Court found that the appointment of the petitioner by the University was contrary to statutory provisions. The election process was conducted without jurisdiction, and the petitioner's appointment and election were deemed illegal. The Court also noted that the show-cause notice and the impugned order did not suffer from any legal infirmity.
Issues: The issues included the jurisdiction of the Vice-Chancellor to terminate the appointment and election, the legality of the appointment and election, and the validity of the show-cause notice and the impugned order.
Ratio Decidendi: The Court held that the appointment by the University was illegal, the election process was conducted without jurisdiction, and the impugned order did not suffer from any legal infirmity. The Court also emphasized that the termination of the appointment and election did not warrant interference.
Final Decision: The writ petition was dismissed as bereft of merit.
The petitioner, claiming himself a widely acknowledged Dental Surgeon and the one who has been engaged by different Universities as Honorary Professor, is aggrieved of the order contained in Memo dated 01.09.2016 issued under the signature of the Registrar, Nilamber Pitamber University.
2. Briefly stated, the petitioner was appointed as Honorary Visiting Professor in the Vananchal Dental College & Hospital, on 12.02.2013 by the Governing Body of the College. He has been appointed as Honorary Visiting Professor for Vananchal Dental College by the Nilamber Pitamber University also, and this decision was communicated to him by letters dated 24.09.2013 and 27.04.2015. In the meantime, the University issued Notification dated 17.10.2013 for election under sub-section (d) to section 3 of the Dentists Act, 1948. The petitioner was elected a member under section 3(d) representing Nilamber Pitamber University in Dental Council of India (hereinafter referred to as DCI) on 23.10.2013. On 22.06.2016, a show-cause notice was issued to the petitioner for termination of his appointment as Honorary Visiting Professor and for annulment/withdrawal/cancellation of his election as a member of the Dental Council of India, which was replied by the petitioner on 16.07.2016. The University vide its order dated 01.09.2016 terminated appointment of the petitioner as Honorary Visiting Professor in Vananchal Dental College, and cancelled his election as a member under section 3(d) of the Dentists Act, 1948 from the University to DCI. It is this order which has been impugned by the petitioner in the present proceeding, primarily raising a question of jurisdiction of the Vice-Chancellor, Nilamber Pitamber University to terminate his appointment in the College and his election as a member of DCI.
3. In its counter-affidavit, the respondent-University has taken a stand that appointment of the petitioner to a post which was not duly sanctioned by the State Government and which was more in the nature of a nomination rather, an appointment, was in the teeth of the statutory provisions under Jharkhand Universities Act, 2000, in particular, sections 57-A and 58. Petitioner's election as member of DCI under section 3(d) has been challenged on the ground that there was no Dental Faculty in the University and, in fact, the Senate of Nilamber Pitamber University, which was carved out from Ranchi University on 17.01.2009, was never constituted and notified. The respondent-University has asserted that meeting of the Senate of the University, for this reason, has never been called. The University supports the impugned order dated 01.09.2016 by pleading that before a final decision was taken in the matter, the petitioner was afforded an opportunity to defend his appointment in the College and election from the University as member of DCI. Denouncing its letters and notifications, the University has taken a position that the whole exercise of appointment and election of the petitioner was on account of a mistake, inadvertently committed by the University.
4. Joining issue with the respondent-University on the question of existence of Dental Faculty and his appointment in the Vananchal Dental College by the College, the petitioner has filed a rejoinder-affidavit running into 49 pages; the writ-petition goes on to 23 pages and the counter-affidavit is confined to 17 pages.
5. The College-respondent no.7 has filed an affidavit supporting the stand taken by the petitioner. It has produced a copy of Notification dated 09.11.2010 to show that one Prof.(Dr.) S.N. Choudhary, Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Ranchi University, Ranchi was adopted as the Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Nilamber Pitamber University. A copy of letter dated 11.01.2017 issued by the Department of Higher, Technical Education & Skill Development, by which 9 members for the Senate of Nilamber Pitamber University were nominated, has also been brought on record by the College.
6. The Dental Council of India-responden