Hon’ble Sudhir Agarwal, J.—Sri Shailendra, counsel for petitioner, Sri Arvind Kumar Goswami, counsel for respondent 1, Sri Tirath Raj Shukla, Advocate holding brief of Sri S.S. Singh for University, Sri Salamuddin Khan, counsel for respondents 5 to 8.

2. This writ petition has been filed by sole petitioner, Dr. Kamal Ullah challenging appointments of respondents 5 to 8 on the posts of Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics and Operation Research (hereinafter referred to as ‘DSOR’).

3. Facts in brief, giving rise to present writ petition are that petitioner was appointed as a part time Lecturer in DSOR in Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (hereinafter referred to as ‘AMU’), on 11.9.1998 and his engagement continued for various periods till May, 2014. For certain period, he worked as Guest Faculty and also as Assistant Professor.

4. An advertisement No. 5/2013 dated 8.11.2013 was published by AMU for vacancies on various posts of Professor, Principal/Director, Associate Professor and Assistant Professor. In the present case, we are concerned with advertisement relating to posts of Assistant Professor in DSOR.

5. Advertisement notified three vacancies of Assistant Professor and two vacancies of Assistant Professor (Operation Research) (hereinafter referred to as ‘Assistant Professor (OR)’) in DSOR. Essential qualifications published by AMU for the posts of Assistant Professor, read as under :

“(i) Good academic record as defined by the concerned university with at least 55% marks (or an equivalent grade in a point scale wherever grading system is followed) at the Master’s Degree level in the relevant subject from an Indian University, or an equivalent degree from an accredited foreign university;

(ii) Besides fulfilling the above qualifications, the candidate must have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the UGC, CSIR or similar test accredited by the UGC like SLET/SET;

(iii) Notwithstanding anything contained in subclause (i) and (ii) above, candidates, who are or have been awarded a Ph.D. Degree in accordance with the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of Ph.D. Degree) Regulation, 2009 shall be exempted from the requirement for the minimum eligibility condition of NET/SLET/SET for recruitment and appointment of Assistant Professor or equivalent positions in Universities/Colleges/Institutions;

OR

The candidates having been awarded Ph.D. Degree prior to 11.7.2009, the date of notification of UGC (Minimum Standard Procedure for the award of M.Phil/Ph.D. Degree) Regulation, 2009 or admitted prior to the aforesaid date and awarded Ph.D., after the above notification shall be exempted from requirement of the minimum eligibility conditions of NET /SLET/SET and will be eligible to apply for the post of Assistant Professor provided they fulfill minimum 6 out 11 conditions as recommended by the Thyagrajan Committee and have obtained certificate in this regard from the Competent Authority of the concerned University.

(iv) NET/SLET/SET shall also not be required for such Masters Programmes in disciplines for which NET/SLET/SET is not conducted.

Note: (1) Candidate for the Post of Assistant Professor in Education (Home Science) should possess M.Ed. With post graduate degree in Home Science.

Note: (2) For the post of Assistant Professor in Islamic Studies candidate should possess M.A. & Ph.D. Degree in Islamic Studies with the following desirable qualifications.

DESIRABLE : For the post of Assistant Professor Islamic Studies Knowledge of Arabic/Persian/Turkish.” (Emphasis Added)

6. Petitioner also applied for one of the post of Assistant Professor in DSOR. He was called for interview.

7. Against three posts of Assistant Professor (Statistics) in DSOR, twenty two persons were called for interview which included respondent-5. Against two posts of Assistant Professor (OR