COMMON JUDGMENT

(Judgment of the Court was delivered by R.MAHADEVAN, J)

The writ petitioners are the appellants herein. They have filed these writ appeals as against the common orders dated 27.04.2022 and 23.06.2022 passed by the learned Judge in two different batches of writ petitions viz., WP.No.14422 of 2021 etc., cases and WP No.5964 of 2022 etc., cases, respectively.

2.The case projected by the appellants herein in the writ petitions, which are absolutely necessary and germane for disposal of these appeals, are narrated hereunder.

3.(i) The appellants / Writ Petitioners were working as Assistant Professor in the respondent University. During the course of their employment, notification dated 08.08.2018 was issued inviting applications from the eligible teachers and other academic staff of the University (except medical and dental faculties) under the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) for promotion to the posts of Associate Professor as well as Professor, as the case may be. It was indicated in the said notification that the applicant has to submit his or her application for simultaneous promotion to the post of Associate Professor as well as Professor under the CAS. As per the notification, the eligible teachers are required to submit their application to avail such promotion.

(ii) Pursuant to the aforesaid notification, the appellants / writ petitioners submitted their application(s) and participated in the selection process. On scrutiny of the eligibility and other norms, they were called upon to attend the interview before the Screening-cum-Evaluation Committee. Accordingly, the appellants / writ petitioners appeared before the committee and attended the interview for promotion. Thereafter, they were given promotion to the post of Associate Professor and they are working in the said promotional post till date.

(iii) The grievance of the appellants / writ petitioners before the writ court was that the respondent University ought to have conferred them dual or double promotion simultaneously to the cadre of Associate Professor and to the post of Professor under the CAS. However, what was conferred to them is promotion to the post of Associate Professor and they were deprived of their further promotion to the post of Professor. The appellants / writ petitioners therefore submitted a joint representation dated 03.12.2020 to the respondent University, stating that they have applied for promotion to the posts of Associate Professor as well as Professor under the CAS and that, they are fully qualified to be promoted for the said posts. It was also stated in the said representation that the Academic Performance Indicator (API) based on Performance Based Appraisal System (PBAS) as prescribed by the UGC Regulations, have been fulfilled by them. However, the appellants / writ petitioners were conferred with promotion only to the post of Associate Professor and not to the post of Professor simultaneously, under the CAS and thereby the parameters laid down by the UGC in adhering to CAS, have been diluted. Thus, in the representation dated 03.12.2020, the appellants / writ petitioners requested the respondent University to confer them further promotion to the post of Professor under the CAS, forthwith.

(iv) As the joint representation dated 03.12.2020 submitted by the appellants / writ petitioners was not considered, Writ Petition No. 643 of 2021 was filed by one Dr. N. Rajendra Prasad seeking to issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the respondents to pass orders on the representation dated 03.12.2020 with regard to the pending promotion as Professor under CAS. Similar other writ petitions were also filed for a Mandamus before the writ court. By separate orders dated 18.01.2021, all the writ petitions were disposed of, by directing the respondents to consider the representation dated 03.12.2020 and pass orders on merits and in accordance with law. Pursuant to the said direction, the Registrar, Annamalai University, second respondent herein,