The main legal point established in the judgment is that regulation 10(f)(iii) is not applicable for shortlisting candidates for the post of Assistant Professors, and teaching experience as a full-time teacher with requisite qualifications should entitle a candidate to marks for shortlisting.

JUDGMENT :

ASHWANI KUMAR MISHRA, J.

1. These bunch of cases raise similar questions of law and fact and have been heard together. They are thus being disposed of by this common judgment. Writ Petition No. 580 of 2023 filed by Geetanjali Tiwari (Pandey) is taken as the lead case.

2. All the petitioners/appellants in this bunch undisputedly possess minimum qualification prescribed for appointment to the post of Assistant Professor in a recognized university or the degree colleges affiliated to it. The qualification for appointment to the post of Assistant Professor is prescribed by the UGC regulations notified on 18.7.2018, titled as University Grants Commission (Minimum Qualifications for Appointment of Teachers and other Academic Staff in Universities and Colleges and other Measures for the Maintenance of Standards in Higher Education) Regulations, 2018 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Regulations’). The post of Assistant Professor as per the regulations is to be filled by way of direct recruitment. Clause 4 of the regulations, in so far as it deals with appointment on the post of Assistant Professor, is extracted hereinafter:

“4.0 Direct Recruitment

4.1 For the Disciplines of Arts, Commerce, Humanities, Education, Law, Social Science, Sciences, Languages, Library Science, Physical Education, and Journalism and Mass Communication.

(I) Assistant Professor:

Eligibility (A or B):

(A)

(i) A Master’s degree with 55% marks (or an equivalent grade in a point-scale wherever the grading system is followed) in a concerned/relevant/allied 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 or the CSIR, or a similar test accredited by the UGC, like SLET/SET or who are or have been awarded a Ph.D. Degree in accordance with the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M.Phil./Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2009 or 2016 and their amendments from time to time as the case may be exempted from NET/SLET/SET:

Provided, the candidates registered for the Ph.D. programme prior to July 11, 2009, shall be governed by the provisions of the then existing Ordinances/Bye-laws/Regulations of the Institution awarding the degree and such Ph.D. candidates shall be exempted from the requirement of NET/SLET/SET for recruitment and appointment of Assistant Professor or equivalent positions in Universities/Colleges/Institutions subject to the fulfillment of the following conditions:

(a) The Ph.D. degree of the candidate has been awarded in a regular mode.

(b) The Ph.D. thesis has been evaluated by at least two external examiners.

(c) An open Ph.D. viva voce of the candidate has been conducted.

(d) The candidate has published two research papers from his/her Ph.D. work, out of which at least one is in a referred journal.

(e) The candidate has presented at least two papers based on his/her Ph.D. work in conferences/seminars sponsored/funded/supported by the UGC/ICSSR/CSIR or any similar agency.

The fulfilment of these conditions is to be certified by the Registrar or the Dean (Academic Affairs) of the University concerned.

Note: NET/SLET/SET shall also not be required for such Masters Programmes in disciplines for which NET/SLET/SET is not conducted by the UGC, CSIR or similar test accredited by the UGC, like SLET/SET.

OR

(B) The Ph.D. degree has been obtained from a foreign university/institution with a ranking among top 500 in the World University Ranking (at any time) by any one of the following: (i) Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) (ii) the Times Higher Education (THE) or (iii) the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Shanghai).

Note: The Academic score as specified in Appendix II (Table 3A) for Universities, and Appendix II (T