K. Shekar
Vs. V. Indiramma & Ors [2002] Insc 96 (27 February 2002)
S. Rajendra
Babu & Ruma Pal
with C.A.No.
356 of 2000
RUMA
PAL, J.
The
question in these appeals is whether, K. Shekar, the appellant in C.A. No. 355
of 2000 (referred to as as the appellant hereafter) is entitled to continue as
Additional Professor in the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro
Sciences (NIMHANS). The appellant was initially appointed as Lecturer.
The
post of Lecturer was redesignated as Assistant Professor pursuant to the 4th
Pay Commission. During the pendency of the proceedings, he has been promoted as
Associate Professor on 30th
June 1992 and
thereafter as Additional Professor with NIMHANS w.e.f. 1st July 1996. Both the Single Judge and the
Division Bench of the Karnataka High Court, on an application under Article 226
filed by the respondent No.1 have held that he had no such right. This decision
has been impugned before us not only by the appellant but also by NIMHANS by
way of a separate appeal.
The
relation of facts can start with 1984 when the Indian Council of Medical
Research ( ICMR), New
Delhi undertook to
set up a project in major institutions and medical colleges for developing
advanced research. The Council laid down several conditions subject to which such
centers were to be set up, the relevant clause (wherein ICMR is referred to as
the Council) being:
"The
host institution must undertake to provide the necessary basic facilities for
carrying out medical research for a period of at least 5 years. The host
institutions are expected to take over the Centres from the Council after the
stipulated period when the Council's support has been withdrawn.
One
such Advanced Research Centre was set up at NIMHANS by ICMR which came to be
known as the ICMR Advanced Research Centre on Community Mental Health. The
appellant was appointed in the Centre as Research Officer in December 1984.
On 28th September 1986, an advertisement was issued by
NIMHANS to fill the Research Project Posts in the Centre. It was made clear in the
advertisement that the Project was for a period of three years and that some
posts were likely to be made permanent after three years. Of the several posts
advertised, we are concerned with the post of Assistant Professor (Psychiatric
Social Work).
The
qualifications prescribed for the post were:
"(a)
First or Second Class Master's Degree in Social Work or allied Discipline or
its equivalent.
(b) Ph.D/D.
Sc.
In
Medical or Psychiatric Social Work for a recognised University or
Institute." In addition, a candidate had to have '4 years teaching and or
research experience in the discipline after obtaining the Ph.D.
Degree".
It was also stipulated that if a suitable candidate is not found, the Selection
committee could recommend a candidate for a lower post.
In the
application submitted by the appellant, against the column
"Reference" he cited three persons to produce a testimonial from them
in regard to his fitness for the post. The three referees were persons who were
on the Selection Committee.
The
Selection Committee did not appoint the appellant as Assistant Professor of
Psychiatric Social Work but appointed him as a Lecturer in Psychiatric Social
Work, a post which admittedly had not formed part of the advertisement which
was published on 28th
September 1986.
The
appellant was issued a letter of appointment on 28th November 1986 by the 'Chairman, Governing Body/ Director of
NIMHANS". The letter of appointment stated that the post was temporary and
renewable on a year to year basis and that the appellant would be on probation
for a period of two years from the date of appointment "which may be
extended or curtailed at the discretion of the competent authority". The
appointment letter also specified that the appellant's appointment was
terminable on giving three months' notice. The appellant signed the letter of
appointment in token of acceptance.
On 6th December 1986, a second advertisement was issued
by NIMHANS for its own purposes and not for the purposes of the ICMR Centre.
This advertisement called for applications for various posts, one of which was
a Lecturer in Psychiatric Social Work. The qualifications were:
"(a)
First or Second Class Master's Degree in Social work or allied disciplines or
its equivalent with Medical Psychiatric Social Work, as one of the subjects or
equivalent.
(b) M.Phil.
in Psychiatric social Work or equivalent (2 years course) from a recognised
University OR Ph.D. in Medical or Psychiatric Social Work from a recognised
University Institution." The appellant and the respondent No. 1 both
applied.
Interviews
were held on 1st March
1987. By this date,
the respondent No. 1 who had already a Master's degree in Psychology and an M.
Phil in Psychiatric Social Work, had in addition acquired her Ph.D. degree. The
Selection Committee interviewed all the candidates including the appellant and
the respondent No. 1. As it turned out this was an unnecessary exercise because
according to NIMHANS, the post was reserved for a Scheduled Caste candidate.
After considering the merits of all the candidates, it was noted that there was
only one SC candidate who was not found suitable. Therefore, the post was not
filled up.
After
the second advertisement was issued, Dr. R. Srinivasa Murthy who was heading
the ICMR Centre wrote to the Director, NIMHANS that NIMHANS had an agreement
with ICMR to "absorb the faculty posts". It was suggested by Dr.
Murthy that "in view of this it would be appropriate that the appointment
order could be suitably modified" and that "the same could apply to
the appointment of Mr. Mahendra Sharma, Lecturer in Clinical Psychology and Dr.
K. Sekar(sic), Lecturer in Psychiatric Social Work". The suggestion of Dr.
Murthy was accepted by NIMHANS and an order dated 21st April 1987 was issued by the Chief Administrative Officer (with a copy
to Dr. Murthy) by way of a Corrigendum to the letter of appointment issued to
the appellant. The first correction was as to the nature of his appointment.
From a ' temporary tenure appointment', the appointment letter was corrected to
read 'the post is permanent but the appointment is on officiating basis'. A
further correction was introduced by the corrigendum which provided that 'on
completion of the tenure appointment in the Centre, appointees will revert back
to the service in the respective departments at NIMHANS.
Further,
the services rendered will count for seniority in the service of NIMHANS from
the date of joining the post in the Centre".
And
so, by virtue of this corrigendum, the appellant's temporary appointment as a
Lecturer with the Centre, became a permanent one with NIMHANS.
On 9th November 1989, the Government of India approved
the re-designation and Faculty Improvement Programme in respect of faculty
posts under NIMHANS. Consequent upon this, the appellant was re-designated as
Assistant Professor w.e.f. 1.10.86 with NIMHANS although the appellant
continued to serve in the ICMR Centre.
On 1st June 1989, a third advertisement was issued
by NIMHANS calling for applications to fill the posts of Assistant Professor in
Psychiatric Social Work (Deaddiction Unit) and Lecturer, Psychiatric Social
Work (De-addiction Unit). The qualifications prescribed were substantially the
same as those which had earlier been prescribed for the posts of Assistant
Professor and Lecturer in the second advertisement. The respondent No. 1
applied for both the posts. No interviews were held nor any selection made and
the respondent No.1 heard nothing further from NIMHANS.
The
appellant was appointed as Assistant Professor (Psychiatric Social Work) in
NIMHANS in 1990. According to the appellant and NIMHANS, this was consequent
upon the Centre being wound up in June 1990. Along with the appellant Dr. Mahendra
Prakash Sharma was posted to the Department of Clinical Psychology in NIMHANS.
According
to the Respondent No.1, the process for appointing an Assistant Professor
started by the advertisement issued in 1989 had been circumvented by the
posting of the appellant from the Centre to NIMHANS. The respondent No. 1 filed
a writ application in which she challenged inter-alia the appointment of the
appellant as Assistant Professor in NIMHANS. She subsequently withdrew this
writ petition with the leave of the Court to file a second writ petition on the
same cause of action. In the second writ petition, the respondent No. 1 questioned
the authority of NIMHANS to fill the post of Assistant Professor in the
Department of Psychiatric Social Work by converting the temporary post in the
ICMR into a permanent one and by resorting to reversion on the basis that the
appellant had served with NIMHANS before he was appointed at the Centre. She
made specific allegations of partiality against the respondent No. 3 in the
writ petition who was a member of the Selection Committee and also one of the
persons cited by the appellant as a reference.
Statements
of objections were filed by the appellant and the Chief Administrative Officer
of NIMHANS. The respondent No. 3 chose not to file any reply. It was the case
of the appellant and NIMHANS in their statements of objections, that the
procedure followed in the appointment and subsequent absorption of the
appellant in NIMHANS was perfectly regular. According to them there was no need
to advertise the post of a lecturer in view of the following clause in the
advertisement: "If the candidate is not found suitable to the post applied
for the selection committee may recommend the candidate for a lower post in
case of highly qualified candidate, the selection committee may recommend to a
higher post other than the one advertised." It was further said that the respondent
No. 1 had no locus standi to question the appellant's appointment in 1986 since
she could not have been considered at all for the post of Lecturer since she
had a 3rd class Masters degree. It was also stated that the selection process
which had been started by the publication of the advertisement in 1989 had been
abandoned because the Union Government was not interested in funding a
de-addiction unit in NIMHANS.
The
learned Single Judge called for the records and after scrutinising them came to
the conclusion that the appellant's appointment as Lecturer pursuant to the
advertisement issued on 28th
September 1986 was
invalid because the post of Lecturer has not been advertised. He held that the
clause which permitted the Selection Committee to appoint a 'suitable'
candidate for a lower post, did not entitle the Selection Committee to either
create a new post which had not been advertised or to at all consider a
candidate who was not eligible to apply for the post advertised.
According
to the learned Single Judge, it was only when the candidate possessed the
minimum qualifications for the post of Assistant Professor and he was not found
suitable for whatever reason to hold the post, that the Selection Committee
could consider him for being appointed to a lower post. The learned Single
Judge held that at the interview for the post of Lecturer held pursuant to the
second advertisement, the Selection Committee had found that the appellant was
not suitable. The learned Judge found from the records that the appellant did
not have any substantive appointment with NIMHANS and, therefore, the question
of his reversion under the Corrigendum did not arise. The learned Judge
concluded that the selection of the appellant was a 'fraud on the power of
NIMHANS'; that NIMHANS had 'allowed itself to safeguard the interests of one
individual', and that 'undue interest' had been taken in the appointment of the
appellant. The appointment of the appellant having been set aside, the learned
Judge directed the post of Assistant Professor, Psychiatric Social Work which
then fell vacant, to be filled up in terms of the advertisement issued in 1989,
and further that the experience acquired by the appellant by virtue of his
illegal appointment was not to be taken into account.
Both NIMHANS
and the appellant preferred two separate appeals. The Division Bench upheld the
finding of the learned Single Judge and dismissed the appeals.
According
to the appellant and NIMHANS, the High Court's finding that appellant's
appointment as Lecturer in 1986 was invalid was uncalled for as the respondent
No.1 had not challenged the appointment. Even if she had, the challenge was
grossly delayed. What had been challenged, according to the appellants, was the
corrigendum dated 21st April, 1987 and the order directing the posting of the
appellant to NIMHANS as Assistant Professor. It is contended that the
respondent No.1 did not have the locus standi to challenge the appointment of
the appellant either as Lecturer or subsequently as an Assistant Professor not
only because she herself had not applied pursuant to the 29th September 1986
advertisement but also because she did not have the necessary educational
qualifications to be appointed to either post. It is urged that the writ
petition filed by the respondent No. 1 was not bona-fide as the appointment of
Dr. M.K. Sharma as Assistant Professor had not been challenged.
According
to the appellant and NIMHANS, NIMHANS was under an obligation to absorb the
employees of the ICMR project because of the agreement between NIMHANS and ICMR
arrived at in 1984. The finding of the High Court that at the interview held
pursuant to the second advertisement, the appellant was found unsuitable for
the post of Lecturer has been criticised on the ground that the High Court had
failed to note that the post had been reserved for a scheduled caste candidate
and the only scheduled caste candidate was not found suitable. According to the
appellants, the High Court also failed to consider that the third advertisement
which was issued on 1.6.1989 had been abandoned because of a lack of funds.
There was as such no question of the process being completed as directed by the
High Court. The appellant has also urged us to consider the matter from an
equitable point of view. He has put in several years of hard work after his
appointment in 1986 all of which would be nullified if his appointment were set
aside.
The
respondent No.1 has contended that her basic grievance was that the NIMHANS had
appointed the appellant as Assistant Professor by a backdoor method, contrary
to the Recruitment Rules of NIMHANS, without completing the process started by
the third advertisement. The respondent No.1's claim was overlooked although
she was fully qualified, only to accommodate the appellant. The entire process
of appointing the appellant as against the post of Assistant Professor in
NIMHANS was vitiated by fraud and bias starting with his irregular initial
appointment in 1986 and culminating with his recruitment by absorption.
According
to the respondent No. 1, the Recruitment Rules could not be overridden by any
agreement with ICMR, It is pointed out that the affidavit filed on behalf of
NIMHANS contained several contradictory statements which further substantiated
the concurrent findings of the Single Judge and the Division Bench of the High
Court that the appellant's appointment was the outcome of bias.
We can
take judicial notice of the fact that that NIMHANS is an institution of repute.
It has already been so recognised by this Court in B.R. Kapoor and Another V.
Union of India and Others 1989 (3) SCC 387. It is also true that generally
speaking Courts have been reluctant to interfere with the running of
educational institutions. But there can be 'no islands of insubordination to
the rule of law'. The actions of educational institutions, however highly
reputed, are not immune from judicial scrutiny. Indeed to preserve the high
reputation, there is a greater need to avoid even the semblance of
arbitrariness or extraneous considerations colouring the Institution's actions.
It may
be that the respondent No. 1 could not directly challenge the appellant's
appointment as Lecturer at the Centre in 1986 either because she herself was
merely not an applicant but was unqualified to be so appointed or on the ground
of delay. But the immediate grievance of the respondent No.1 was the
appellant's appointment in 1990 as Assistant Professor. Because the appointment
was as a result of the appellant's appointment as a Lecturer in the ICMR Centre
in 1986, it was also called into question. To get rid of the "weed"
so to speak, one had to eliminate the root. It is nobody's case that the
respondent No. 1 could not be considered for appointment as Assistant Professor
in 1990. The Writ Application was filed in the same year. There was as such no
question of the respondent No.1's application being defeated because of any
delay.
If we
start with the 'root', - there can be no doubt that the appellant's appointment
as Lecturer in 1986 was not in terms of the advertisement pursuant to which he
had applied. Before any appointment could be made to the post of Lecturer, the
post should have been advertised together with the eligibility criteria in
respect thereof. The submission of NIMHANS was that since the post of Lecturer
was lower than an Assistant Professor's, it was not necessary to be advertised.
If this argument were accepted, it would amount to a violation of Articles 14
and 16. The absence of an advertisement necessarily deprived persons who could
have applied for the post, of the opportunity of applying for the post.
The
clause in the advertisement which enabled the Selection Committee to recommend
the candidate for a lower post if the candidate was not found suitable to fill
the post applied for, did not give NIMHANS the power to appoint the recommended
candidate against an unadvertised post. Significantly, in the other
advertisements on record dated 6.12.1986 and 1.6.1989, the post of Assistant
Professor and the post of Lecturer were both advertised.
The
clause, far from allowing NIMHANS the power to dispense with the advertisement
of any lower post as a pre- condition to appointment, indicates that only
eligible persons could be considered for selection. Once the barrier of
eligibility was crossed, the Selection Committee could consider the suitability
of the candidate for the post advertised. It follows that the appellant should
not have been called for interview at all. His application clearly showed that
he did not fulfill the requisite eligibility criteria for the post he had
applied for, because he lacked any post- doctorate experience at all. The power
in the Selection Committee to relax the eligibility criteria cannot be read as
including the power to do away with the criteria altogether.
Then
again, the post which was advertised was a temporary tenure post and yet by
virtue of the Corrigendum, the posts were made permanent. It is true that the
advertisement stated there was a likelihood of some of the advertised posts
being made permanent after three years. All that this meant was that the posts
would remain temporary tenure posts for three years after which there was a
possibility of the appointments being made permanent.
When
the post itself was made permanent from its very inception by the corrigendum
issued several months later, the post should have been re-advertised so as to
give fair notice to all prospective candidates regarding the nature of the
vacancy to be filled. It was not open to NIMHANS to retrospectively and
subsequent to the appointment change the nature of post advertised by issuing
the Corrigendum.
In any
case, the Corrigendum proceeded on a mis- interpretation of the terms and
conditions under which the Centre was set up by the ICMR. There was no
obligation on the part of the NIMHANS by reason of any 'agreement' with ICMR to
absorb any employee of the Centre. ICMR's condition as quoted earlier merely
obliged all Institutes where such centres were set up to continue the work
after ICMR withdrew its financial support at the end of five years.
The
corrigendum in so far as it provided for the 'reversion' of persons working at
the Centre to NIMHANS certainly could not operate to revert back the appellant.
The Cadre and Recruitment Rules of NIMHANS provide that appointments to the
posts of Assistant Professor and Lecturer are to be made by direct recruitment.
Besides, the appellant was in fact serving as Research Officer with the ICMR
Centre when he was appointed as a Lecturer in 1986. There was a distinction
between appointment as a Lecturer at the ICMR Centre and appointment to the
post of a Lecturer in NIMHANS. That is why the appellant, even after having
been issued the letter of appointment as Lecturer in the ICMR Centre, applied
again pursuant to the second advertisement for appointment as Lecturer in NIMHANS.
He could not, in the circumstances, be reverted back to NIMHANS.
It is
unnecessary to consider any further submission as there are already sufficient
reasons for dismissing these appeals and upholding the judgment of the
Karnataka High Court.
However
the appellants are correct in their submission that the High Court should not
have directed the selection of an Assistant Professor on the basis of the 1989
advertisement. That advertisement related to appointments in the De-addiction
Unit.
NIMHANS'
statement that the setting up of the De-addiction Unit in NIMHANS had been
abandoned because of lack of funds has been categorically refuted by respondent
No. 1. Without going into the controversy having regard to the lapse of several
years on account of the pendency of the litigation before different Courts, it
would not be appropriate to direct the process initiated in 1989 to be
completed more than 11 years later. The vacancy created by the setting aside
the appellant's appointment will have to be filled and a fresh advertisement
will have to be issued by NIMHANS in accordance with its Cadre and Recruitment
Rules. The unfortunate consequence that the appellant will suffer by reason of
the setting aside of his appointment as Assistant Professor in NIMHANS cannot be
avoided on any equitable considerations although the harshness may be mitigated
to some extent.
Accordingly,
while affirming the decision of the High Court, we modify it to the extent that
the actual experience gained by the appellant by virtue of his appointment as
Assistant Professor may be taken into account if the appellant applies pursuant
to any future advertisement that may be issued by NIMHANS for the post of
Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatric Social Work.
With
this modification, the appeals are dismissed but without any order as to costs.
....J.
(S. Rajendra
Babu) J.
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