HIGH COURT OF TRIPURA AGARTALA WP(C) No.243 of 2024 Dr. Rajat Ghosh S/o Late Hara Mohan Ghosh, resident of South Dhaleswar, near AOC, Lane No.5, PO-Agartala College, Jogendranagar, PS-East Agartala, District-West Tripura, Pin-799004.

….Petitioner Versus

1. Tripura University (a Central University)

Represented by its Registrar, having his office at Suryamaninagar, PO-

Suryamaninagar, PS-Amtali, Agartala, District-West Tripura, Pin-799022.

2. The Registrar, Tripura University Having his office at Suryamaninagar, PO-Suryamaninagar, PS-Amtali, Agartala, District-West Tripura, Pin-799022.

3. The Vice-Chancellor, Tripura University (Chairman of Selection Committee) having his office at Suryamaninagar, PO-Suryamaninagar, PS-

Amtali, Agartala, District-West Tripura, Pin-799022.

4. The Chairman of Scrutiny Committee Tripura University, Suryamaninagar, PO-Suryamaninagar, PS-Amtali, Agartala, District-Tripura, Pin-799022 [Notice to be served by the Respondent No.3, i.e., the Vice-Chancellor, Tripura University]

5. The Dean, Faculty of Science Tripura University, Suryamaninagar, PO-Suryamaninagar, PS-Amtali, Agartala, District-Tripura, Pin-799022

6. The University Grants Commission (UGC)

Represented by its Secretary, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi-110002.

….Official Respondents

7. Dr. Jagdish Kumar Sahu, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacy, Tripura University, Suryamaninagar, PO-

Suryamaninagar, PS-Amtali, Agartala, District- Tripura, Pin-799022.

….Private Respondent For the Petitioner : Mr. P. Roy Barman, Sr. Advocate Mr. S. Bhattacharjee, Advocate Mr. D. Paul, Advocate For the Respondents : Mr. S. Lodh, Advocate Date of hearing : 07.01.2025 Date of delivery of Judgment & Order : 18.03.2025 Whether fit for reporting : Yes HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE ARINDAM LODH JUDGMENT & ORDER By way of filing the present writ petition, the petitioner, Dr.

Rajat Ghosh has sought for a direction for quashing/setting aside the selection/appointment of respondent no.7 (private respondent), Dr. Jagdish Kumar Sahu, who was appointed as an Associate Professor under the respondents-Tripura University (a central University) through a selection process.

2. Shortly stated, the fact of the case of the petitioner is that he being an Assistant Professor under the Tripura University, the respondents no. 1 to 6 herein, had applied for the post of Associate Professor in the department of Pharmacy in terms of an advertisement issued by the respondents-Tripura University on 19.07.2023. The said post was reserved for Other Backward Classes-Non Creamy Layer [for short, OBC-NCL] category of candidates to which he belongs to. Accordingly, call letter was issued to the petitioner and thereafter, on 20.11.2023 verification of the documents and personal interview of the aspirants for the said post was held. The main grievance as ventilated in this writ petition is that the respondent no.7, the private respondent herein, had been selected by the respondents- University for the said post most illegally and arbitrarily as according to the petitioner the respondent no.7 had no „valid/updated‟ OBC-NCL certificate as per requisite prescribed format of the Government of India. Being upset with such selection, the petitioner submitted representation through Right to Information Act so as to know as to whether the private respondent had submitted „valid/updated‟ OBC-NCL certificate on or before the cut-off date of submitting his application for the said post. But, the respondents- University denied to give any reply to the petitioner and rejected his application compelling him to file the instant writ petition whereby and whereunder he seeks a direction to quash the appointment order of private respondent no.7 to the post of Associate Professor.

3. Heard Mr. P. Roy Barman, learned senior counsel assisted by Mr. S. Bhattacharjee, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. S. Lodh, learned counsel appearing for the respondents.

4. At the very outset, Mr. Roy Barman, learned senior co