IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS

Reserved

10.01.2022

Pronounced

12.01.2022

CORAM

THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE C.SARAVANAN

W.P.No.32624 of 2019

and

W.M.P.No.33013 of 2019

M.Vasantharajan ... Petitioner

vs

1. The Registrar,

The Tamil Nadu Dr.J.Jayalalitha Fisheries University,

Vettar River View Campus,

Nagapattinam-611 002.

2. The Principal Secretary to Government,

The Government of Tamil Nadu,

Animal Husbandry (Diary and Fishery),

Chennai.

... Respondents

Prayer : Writ petition filed under Article 226 of the

Constitution of India praying for issuance of a writ of

Mandamus directing the respondents to consider the application

of the petitioner dated 31.07.2019 and as per the interview

dated 12.09.2019 conducted by the Respondents and appoint the

petitioner to the post of Assistant Professor of Fisheries

Biology and Resource Management in Most Backward Community

quota in Tamil Nadu Dr.J.Jayalalitha Fisheries University (the

first respondent) forthwith

For Petitioner : Mr.S.Hameed Ismail

For R1

: Mr.V.Vijay Shankar

For R2

: Mr.L.S.M.Hasan Fizal,

Government Advocate

ORDER

This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner for a

mandamus to direct the respondent to consider the application

of the petitioner dated 31.07.2019 and as per the interview

dated 12.09.2019 conducted by the respondents to appoint the

petitioner to the post of Assistant Professor of Fisheries

Biology and Resource Management in Most Backward Community

quota in Tamil Nadu Dr.J.Jayalalitha Fisheries University (the

first respondent) forthwith.

https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/hcservices/

2. The case of the petitioner is that the respondent had

issued Notification Advertisement No.03/2019 for the year

2019 on 27.06.2019 and invited applications for qualified

persons to the post of Assistant Professor in the Fisheries

Department.

3. It is the case of the petitioner, that the petitioner

belongs to the Most Backward Class (MBC) and that one seat was

reserved for the candidate belonging to the aforesaid

community on account of the backlog of vacancies.

4. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that

different set of qualifications have been prescribed in the

said notification and that the petitioner satisfied

qualification B which reads as under:-

B. For the candidates having Master's

degree, National Eligibility Test

(NET) conducted by the ASRB, UGC,

CSIR or similar test, accredited by

the UGC shall remain compulsory

along with one publication in NAAS

(National Academy of Agricultural

Sciences, New Delhi) rated referred

journal for recruitment to the post

of

Assistant

Professor

and

equivalent in the disciplines in

which NET is conducted.

5. The petitioner was called for an interview. It is

submitted that the petitioner was however not selected and

preference was only given to the candidate possessing Ph.D.,

as per the qualification in C which reads as under:-

C. Essentiality of NET can be waived

off, for the candidates holding the

Ph.D., degree provided it has been

done with course work as prescribed

by the UGC Regulations 2009, and the

candidate has atleast two full

length publications having NAAS

rating not less than 4, on the last

day of submission of application.

Those candidates with Ph.D., degree

without course work will not qualify

for NET exemption.

6. He further submits that similar advertisement was

issued for the succeeding vide Advertisement No.1/2020 dated

06.12.2020 wherein again similar criteria B in Advertisement

No.03/2019 dated 27.06.2019 was prescribed.

https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/hcservices/

7. He therefore submits that though as per the

advertisement a person holding a Ph.D., and Master's Degree in

additional National Eligibility Tes