A petitioner on Saturday withdrew his plea from Karnataka High Court, which challenged the appointment of Mahadev M.G. as Registrar of the National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS).
The Division Bench of Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice C. Jayachandran, during the hearing yesterday, told the petitioner to file a representation before the UGC, considering the appointment was made in 2014.
After the Counsel for the petitioner asked for permission to withdraw the petition, the High Court granted the same.
Advocate Sanjai D. Rajan had argued in his petition that the appointment of the Registrar of NUALS was made in violation of the University Grants Commission Regulations and mandates.
According to the plea, Mahadev M.G. had experience of only two years and eight months as Deputy Registrar, one year and one month experience as Assistant Registrar, and less than four years experience as Private Secretary to the Vice Chancellor.
The petitioner alleged that Mahadev did not have the requisite minimum qualifications.
Rajan mentioned the essential qualification for appointment to the post of Registrar, as per the NUALS Regulations.
He said the NUALS Registrar was required to have either first or second class Master’s degree or equivalent qualification, and at least three years teaching experience at the University level or three years administrative experience in a responsible post.
The Regulations further said that a degree in law from a recognised University was a desirable qualification for the post.
The petitioner further said that the UGC Notification on Revision of Pay Scales, Minimum Qualifications for Appointments of Teachers in Universities, Colleges and Other measures for the Maintenance of Standards, 1998 provided in Appendix III under Regulation 4 the following minimum qualifications for direct recruitment to the posts of Registrar, Deputy Registrar and Assistant Registrar:
1. A Master’s Degree with at least 55 percent of marks or its equivalent grade of B in the UGC seven point scale.
2. At least 15 years of experience as Lecturer (Senior Scale)/Lecturer with eight years in Reader’s grade along with experience in educational administration. Or
Comparable experience in research establishment and/or other institutions of higher education. Or 15 years of administrative experience, of which eight years as Deputy Registrar on an equivalent post.
The plea contended that the said notification had been adopted and implemented in the State vide Government Order dated December 21, 1999.
It said the qualifications prescribed for direct recruitment of Registrar in the NUALS regulations, whereby the requirement of administrative experience is reduced from 15 years to a mere three years and further the requirement of eight years of experience as Deputy Registrar was done away with, was bad in law.
Annexure Ill under Chapter XII Clause 5 of the NUALS Regulations, 2006 to the extent the qualifications prescribed for direct recruitment to the post of Registrar as three years of administrative experience in a responsible post was per se illegal and unsustainable in law, added the plea.
The petitioner further argued that the records leading to the NUALS Regulations 2006 be called for and set aside as they were contrary to the UGC norms specifying minimum qualification for direct recruitment to the post of Registrar.
The petitioner was represented by Advocates S. Muhammed Haneef, Asif Ali M.H., T. Sailesh Kumar, Divya Ravindran, Ashik Ali M.H., Swethambily C. and Rajana Jose.
(Case Title: Advocate Sanjai D. Rajan vs The National University of Advanced Legal Studies & Ors)