IMPORTANT POINT
The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of following the procedure established by law and proper assessment of merit in selection as per UGC Regulations, 2018.

JUDGMENT :

(Prayer: Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of Constitution of India praying to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus calling for the records relating to the impugned order issued by the respondent in Ref.No.PU/RC/2022-23/136 dated 30.11.2022 and to quash the same and consequently directing the respondent to fill up the post of Assistant Professor (Computer Science), Karaikal Campus, by conducting selection in accordance with UGC Regulations in transparent manner and in adherence to the principles laid down under Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India, by cancelling the undisclosed selection conducted in secret manner and in consideration of the petitioner based on merit in selection, within a time frame to be fixed by this Court.)

1. This writ petition has been filed challenging the order dated 30.11.2022 thereby rejected the representation submitted by the petitioner seeking to allow him to participate in the interview for the post of Assistant Professor in Computer Science (Karaikal Campus) and to appoint him in the said post.

2. The first respondent issued notification for recruitment of various faculty position vide advertisement dated 05.08.2019. Thereafter, corrigendum was also issued dated 29.10.2019. Once again, the first respondent issued re-notification dated 06.07.2020 and accordingly three vacancies have been notified for the post of Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Karaikal Campus. The petitioner had applied for the said post enclosing his educational qualification certificates, teaching experience certificates as well as publications and award granted to him. The method of selection is based on 'academic performance indicators' (API) scores as per Table 3A of University Grants Commission Regulations, 2018. Accordingly, candidates were shortlisted for interview for the post of Assistant Professor. As per the qualification of the petitioner, he had scored 85 marks and he was in anticipation of getting call letter to attend the interview. However, after submission of his application, he had not received any communication from the first respondent. However, other persons were called for interview for the said post.

2.1 Therefore, the petitioner submitted application under Right to Information Act for the details of call letter and the list of candidates called for interview along with their API scores. However, the petitioner was not served with list of selected candidates for the reason it remains to be a third party personal information. The petitioner was furnished details with regards to interview conducted for the post of Assistant Professor from 01.02.2022 to 04.02.2022 and the call letter issued to the shortlisted eligible candidates. Therefore, the petitioner filed writ petition before this Court in WP.No.28798 of 2022 seeking direction to the first respondent to fill up the post of Assistant Professor in Computer Science under OBC category based on API scores scored by the petitioner in accordance with the Table-3A of UGC Regulations, 2018. This Court by order dated 01.11.2022, directed the petitioner to submit representation in this regard and the same may be considered on merits and in accordance with law. Accordingly, the petitioner submitted representation and the same was rejected by the order dated 30.11.2022 which is impugned in this writ petition on the ground that the petitioner scored only 76 marks as per the UGC Regulations and documents submitted by the petitioner. The petitioner is coming under the OBC category whereas the selected candidates under OBC category scored 78 marks as per the UGC Regulations. Therefore, the request made by the petitioner was rejected.

3. The learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner would submit that the first respondent without following the procedure established by law and without any proper assessment