The relevance of the candidate's qualifications to the advertised post and the application of communal roster and rules of procedure in the selection process.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for issuance of a writ of certiorarified mandamus calling for the records of the third respondent herein pertaining to the provisional List of selected candidates in the subject Business Administration [Sub.Code B34] for the recruitment of Assistant Professors Notified in its Advt.No.4/2010, dated 29.03.2010 and quash the same in so far as the same relates to the selection of 4th respondent herein under Open Category [GT] and direct the third respondent herein to award 6 marks to the petitioner for his additional qualification – M.Phil with SLET/NET instead of 5 marks already awarded and consequently, redraw the selection list for GT and Backward Class – General [BG] categories by placing the petitioner herein at S.No.62, reserved for BG [12th roster point reserved for BG] or in the alternate at S.No.47 [9th roster point reserved for BG] due to the increase of total marks of the petitioner to 30 from 29.)

1. The relief sought in this writ petition is to call for the records of the third respondent herein pertaining to the provisional List of selected candidates in the subject Business Administration [Sub.Code B34] for the recruitment of Assistant Professors Notified in its Advt.No.4/2010, dated 29.03.2010 and quash the same, in so far as the same relates to the selection of fourth respondent herein under Open Category [GT] and direct the third respondent herein to award 6 marks to the petitioner for his additional qualification – M.Phil with SLET/NET instead of 5 marks already awarded and consequently, redraw the selection list for GT and Backward Class – General [BG] categories by placing him at S.No.62, reserved for BG [12th roster point reserved for BG] or in the alternate at S.No.47 [9th roster point reserved for BG] due to the increase of his total marks to 30 from 29.

2. The brief facts of the case are as follows:

The third respondent vide Advertisement No.4/2010 dated 29.03.2010, has issued a notification, inviting applications from eligible candidates for 64 vacancies to the post of Assistant Professors in the subject – Business Administration [Subject Code: B 34], in response to which, the petitioner has applied for the post of Assistant Professor [Business Administration] in Tamil Nadu Collegiate Education Service. As per the prospectus issued by the third respondent, the two basic and essential qualifications to apply for the post notified are as follows:

(i) All candidates except S.C and S.T should have passed a Post Graduate Degree in the relevant subject with minimum of 55% marks and

(ii) All candidates should have passed NET/SLET/SLST or an accredited test equivalent to UGC Norms in the relevant subject.

2.1. The petitioner belongs to BC Category and his educational qualifications are B.Com., M.B.A., & M.Phil. He has also passed SLET/NET. While Certificate Verification, the third respondent has awarded 29 marks to the petitioner. Actually, the third respondent ought to have awarded 6 marks to the petitioner since he has completed M.Phil., degree and also, passed SLET/NET, but, the third respondent has awarded only 5 marks to the petitioner as if he does not have M.Phil., degree.

2.2. On 17.02.2011, the third respondent published the provisional list of selected candidates, however, the said list was not communicated to the petitioner nor published in the newspaper. The third respondent has selected 10 candidates under GT Category after reserving 3 GT vacancies for Special Category and 12 candidates under BC [General] Category. The fourth respondent who belongs to Forward Community is not entitled to be selected under GT Category, but, the third respondent has illegally selected him under GT Category. Though the petitioner was eligible to compete for the 10 vacancies reserved under GT Category and also, 12 vacancies reserved under BC [General] Category, he was not selected since the third r