The Board of Governors of IIT Kanpur has the authority to establish recruitment rules and qualifications, and courts should not interfere in policy matters unless there is a clear legal error.

JUDGMENT :

MAHESH CHANDRA TRIPATHI, J.

1. Heard Sri Avneesh Tripathi, learned counsel for the appellant-petitioner and Sri Rohan Gupta, learned counsel for the opposite party nos. 2 to 4.

2. Present Special Appeal has arisen from a judgment and order of the learned Single Judge dated 11th March, 2024 passed in Writ Appeal No. 19126 of 2023 (Ram Pratap Singh and another vs. Union of India and others) by which the writ petition filed by the appellant-petitioner has been dismissed.

FACTS

3. The facts giving rise to this appeal in a nutshell are that the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur [IIT-Kanpur] is an engineering institute. Initially, it was a society and subsequently, it was incorporated by the Central Government under the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961. [IT Act, 1961] Initially, the appellant-petitioner was appointed as a Junior Engineer (Trainee) in the pay scale of Rs.1400-2600 in IIT-Kanpur on April 27, 1988 on temporary and adhoc basis for a period of two years from the date of his joining and the said period was extended for a further period of six months vide Office order dated 10.05.1990. Subsequently, his pay scale of Rs.1400-2600 was changed to Rs.5000-8000/-. In January, 1991 the IIT-Kanpur had published an advertisement for appointment on the post of Junior Engineer and finally, the appellant was selected on the said post.

4. Thereafter, the appellant applied against the advertisement No. 2/2005 and he was duly selected on the post of Assistant Engineer (Civil) on regular basis with effect from 14.12.2005 (F/N) or the date of assumption of charge on the position of Assistant Engineer (Civil), whichever is later. He was accorded the first financial upgradation in the Grade Pay of Rs.4600/-vide Office Order dated 08.05.2014 and later on was promoted to the post of Senior Assistant Engineer (SG) in the pay scale of Rs.33100-187800 Level-9 with Grade Pay of Rs.5400/-, with effect from 01.01.2018, vide Office Order dated 30.01.2019. The pay scale of Rs.33,100-1,87,800/-was the same pay scale as given to the promoted Senior Assistant Engineer/Assistant Engineer.

5. Meanwhile, the Board of Directors in its 227th meeting dated 11.10.2018 had approved the Recruitment and Promotion Rules in respect of non-academic staff. The IIT Kanpur decided to adopt and implement the Recruitment and Promotion Rules as per procedures approved by the Board. Thereafter, the promotion policy was notified vide Office Order dated 27.11.2018. The appellant claims that his right to promotion got affected by the new policy and as such, he represented the matter before the IIT Kanpur on 14.06.2019. The same was examined by the Institute Level Grievance Redressal Committee and the Board-Sub Committee, constituted for grievance examinations, wherein it was found that there is no merit in the claim set up by the appellant and he was advised to apply for the promotion as and when the post is advertised, subject to meeting the eligibility criteria. Therefore, the Board of Governors in its 244th meeting dated 12th January, 2022 had refused to accept his request and the same was communicated to him vide letter dated 28.02.2022 issued by the Deputy Registrar (Admin.) of IIT Kanpur.

6. It is claimed that the appellant possessed all the essential qualifications required for being considered for appointment on the post of Executive Engineer. It transpires that in the earlier advertisement dated 25.05.2015 at serial no. 3 the posts of Executive Engineer (Electrical) (reserved for OBCs) & Air-conditioning (UR) were mentioned and the applications were invited from the Assistant Executive Engineer with 5 years service in the grade; or Graduate Assistant Engineers with 8 years service in the grade or Diploma holders Assistant Engineers with outstanding records & ability and 10 years service in the grade. Thereafter, the IIT Kanpur had published an advertisement no. 1/2023 dated 16.9.2023 inviting applications for recruitment on various posts including five post