A university cannot declare the degree of a candidate to be unrecognized without any proper basis: High Court of Jammu and Kashmir

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH AT SRINAGAR SWP No. 1512 2017 Reserved On: 28th of July 2021 Pronounced On: 2nd of August 2021. Dr. Manzoor Ahmad Gatoo Through: Mr J. A. Kawoosa Senior Advocate with Mr Atir Javed Kawoosa Advocate. ….. Petitioner(s) Through: Mr B. A. Dar Sr. AAG. ….. Respondent(s) State of JK & Ors. Hon’ble Mr Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey Judge. In this Petition the Petitioner has sought the indulgence of this Court in granting him the following relief(s): “a.) Issue an appropriate writ order or direction including one quashing the impugned communication No. SIMS 302 07(XXXVI) 2015 2940 dated Nov 01 2016 b.) Issue an appropriate writ order or direction including one the prescribed qualification “M. Sc and 05.09.2016 for the post of Assistant Professor in cl. Biochemistry as the same are not in tune with the MCI regulations c). Issue an appropriate writ order or direction including one directing the respondents to call and conduct the interview of the Petitioner for the post of Assistant Professor in Cl. Biochemistry rescheduled on 03.08.2017 at 05:00 PM and subsequently select and appoint the Petitioner as per his merit and eligibility SWP No. 1512 2017 d. Issue an appropriate writ order or direction including one directing the respondents not to make any appointment in terms of the Advertisement Notice dated 10.07.2015 and 05.09.2016 for the Post of Assistant Professor in cl. Biochemistry and re advertise the same with the qualification as per the MCI guidelines and AIIMS pattern and e. Any other writ order or direction which this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the attendant facts and circumstances of the case may be issued in favour of the Petitioner and against the respondents.” The precise case of the Petitioner is that he having M. Sc Biotechnology and Ph. D in Biochemistry qualification applied for the post of Assistant Professor Cl. Biochemistry in pursuance to advertisement notice No. 016 dated 5th of September 2016 issued by the Respondents. It is submitted that the Petitioner had more than 05 years of teaching and Research experience including 03 years of Sr. Resident ship in the subject of Biochemistry to his credit. In addition the Petitioner claims to have more than 15 international as well as national publications. Upon receipt of application form of the Petitioner it is claimed that the Petitioner vide communication No. SIMS:302 07(XXXVI) 2015 2940 dated 1st of November 2016 issued by the Respondent No.2 was informed that his qualification degreeis not recognized and as such his candidature stands rejected. The Petitioner as stated claims to have immediately filed a representation before the Respondents stating therein that he has pursued completed Master’s Degree as well as Ph. D from the Aligarh Muslim University which is a recognized University however no decision was taken on the representation so filed by the Petitioner. Thereafter the Petitioner states that he on 1st of August 2017 through the official Website SWP No. 1512 2017 of the Respondents came to know that the interview for the post in question has been fixed on 29th of July 2017 which was later on rescheduled to 3rd of August 2017 however his name did not figure in the shortlisted candidates purportedly on the aforesaid ground of his qualification of M. Sc not being obtained from a recognized University. It is pleaded that the Petitioner immediately filed another representation before the Hon’ble Chief Minister as well as Respondent No.1 on 1st of August 2017 and that the office of the Hon’ble Chief Minister forwarded the representation of the Petitioner to the Respondent No.2 in terms of communication dated 1st of August 2017 for appropriate action. When no action was taken on the representations so submitted by the Petitioner the Petitioner has knocked at the portals of this Court through the medium of the instant Petition for the relief as detailed out in 1st Paragraph of this Judgment hereinabove. Mr J. A. Kawoosa the learned Senior Counsel representing the Petitioner submitted that the impugned action of the Respondents in declaring the Petitioner ineligible to participate in the selection process for the post of Assistant Professor Cl. Biochemistry pursuant to Advertisement notice dated 5th of September 2016 smacks of malafides on part of the Respondents aimed at accommodating some of their blue eyed candidates. It is further submitted that the Respondents have declared the Petitioner ineligible to participate in the selection process on the ground that the M. Sc. degree of the Petitioner is not recognized when the fact of the matter is that SWP No. 1512 2017 the Petitioner has obtained the M. Sc. degree from the Aligarh Muslim University which is duly recognized. Objections stand filed on behalf of the Respondents. It is stated that while scrutinizing the application form of the Petitioner it was observed by the Screening Committee that the Petitioner is in possession of M. Sc. Biotechnology having Ph. D in Clinical Biochemistry while as in terms of the advertisement notice the requirement was M. Sc. in Biochemistry and as such the Screening Committee came to the conclusion that the Petitioner is lacking the basic qualification i.e. M. Sc. Medical Biochemistry making his candidature liable to be rejected. I heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the pleadings on record. I have also gone through the relevant record as made available before the Court by the Respondents through Mr B. A. Dar the learned Senior Additional Advocate General. When this matter was taken up for consideration on motion hearing i.e. on 3rd of August 2017 the Court while issuing notice to the Respondents directed that the interview for the post of Assistant Professor in Clinical Biochemistry shall not be conducted till further orders from the Court. Thereafter on the motion filed by the Respondents the aforesaid Order dated 3rd of August 2017 was modified vide Order dated 21st of August 2017 by providing that the Petitioner shall be admitted to interview and selection process concluded but result shall not be declared until further SWP No. 1512 2017 orders from the Court. It was also directed that the selection of the Petitioner and other candidates will remain subject to outcome of the Writ Petition. From the bare perusal of the impugned communication dated 1st of November 2016 what transpires is that the sole ground on which the candidature of the Petitioner for the post of Assistant Professor Clinical Biochemistry has been rejected is that the M. Sc. degree of the Petitioner is not recognized. The Respondents in the impugned communication have recorded that since the Screening Committee constituted by the Government for screening of applications did not find the Petitioner eligible for the post in question on account of lack of requisite qualification of M. Sc. degree as such his candidature was rejected and he was not allowed to partake in the selection process. Pertinent to note here that the prima facie satisfaction of the Court formed a ground for directing the Respondents to conduct the interview of the Petitioner along with other eligible candidates in terms of Order dated 21st of August 2017 which as stated by the learned Senior counsel representing the Petitioner stands complied with by Respondents. In these circumstances the Court has to only consider the ground for rejection of the candidature of the Petitioner which as discussed hereinabove has reference to non recognition of the M. Sc degree certificate of the Petitioner and nothing more. The documents on record supported with the pleadings of the parties make it clear that the Petitioner’s degree of M. SWP No. 1512 2017 Sc. Biotechnology is from a recognized and famous University i.e. Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh therefore the Respondents have without there being any basis material declared the said degree of the Petitioner as not Mr Dar learned Senior Additional Advocate General was pointedly asked to supply any material or make reference to any record(s) which became the basis for rejection of the candidature of the Petitioner by the Screening Committee constituted by the Respondents for the purpose which he could not. That apart the Court also perused the relevant records which revealed that there was no such material before the Screening Committee which would have necessitated it to come to the conclusion that the M. Sc. degree of the Petitioner is not recognized. That being the position there is no need to go into any further ground qua the challenge made to the impugned communication. In the above background the Petition of the Petitioner is allowed and by a ‘Writ of Certiorari’ the impugned communication dated 1st of November 2016 is hereby quashed. The Respondents by a ‘Writ of Mandamus’ are directed to take the selection process in question to its logical conclusion by considering all the eligible candidates including the Petitioner in tune with the merit position obtained by the said candidates. Writ Petition disposed of as above. SWP No. 1512 2017 accordingly. August 2nd 2021 Pending application(s) if any shall also stand disposed of Bench Secretary of this Court to return the record to Mr Dar the learned Senior Additional Advocate General against proper receipt. Judge Whether the Judgment is reportable Yes No. Yes No. Whether the Judgment is speaking 

Summary: A university cannot arbitrarily declare a job candidate’s degree certificate to be unrecognized or invalid without proper basic or material indicating the same. This was held in the judgement passed by a single member bench of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir consisting of Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey in the case of Dr Manzoor Ahmad Gatoo v State of Jammu &amp; Kashmir [SWP No. 1512/2017] pronounced on 2nd August 2021. The petitioner, Dr Manzoor Ahmad Gatoo applied for the post of Assistant Professor Cl. Biochemistry in pursuance to advertisement notice No. 07 of 2016 dated 5th September 2016 which was issued by the respondents. The petitioner has an M. Sc in Biotechnology and a Ph. D in Biochemistry as well as 5 years of teaching experience and 3 years of Sr. Resident-ship in Biochemistry. In addition to this the petitioner claims to have more than 15 international and national publications. However upon receiving the petitioner’s application, the respondent declared that the Petitioner’s Master’s degree was not recognisable and therefore his candidature was outright rejected. The petitioner immediately filed representation before the respondents stating that he had an M. Sc from Aligarh Muslim University which was beyond doubt a recognised university. The petitioner’s representation was not considered and his name did not figure on the list of candidates who were shortlisted for the interview on grounds that he did not have a recognised Master’s degree. On 1st August 2017, the petitioner filed representation before the Honourable Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir which was duly forwarded to the Respondents for appropriate action. Yet as no action was taken, the petition filed the present suit challenging the impugned action by the respondents in declaring him ineligible to participate in the selection process for the post of Assistant Professor Cl. Biochemistry pursuant to the Advertisement notice dated 5th September 2016. It was been contended by the petitioner that the respondent university rejected the candidature of worthy applicants with the motive to favour some of their blue-eyed candidates. The court issued an order on 3rd of August 2017 directing that an interview be set up for the post of Assistant Professor in Clinical Biochemistry for the petitioner and other deserving candidates, but that the results were to be declared only after the final judgement was passed.