MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has refused to quash a Government order, dated June 1, 2007, for appointing about 1,000 lecturers in Government arts and science colleges.
Dismissing a writ petition, Justice K. Chandru declined to accept the argument that the candidates who had not written State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) or National Eligibility Test (NET) for lectureship should not be considered on a par with other applicants.
“Once the University Grants Commission (UGC) norms for SLET/NET, which was a prerequisite for getting entry in collegiate service, has been waived by the UGC itself, the petitioner by collateral proceedings cannot bring back the same norms which are not contemplated in law,” the Judge said.
The G.O. stipulated that the candidates would be selected based on a 50-point scoring system whereby candidates with teaching experience would be awarded 2 marks for each year, subject to a maximum of 15 marks.
Those with a Ph.D. qualification would get another nine marks, M.Phil. holders with SLET/NET- six marks, post-graduate degree holders with SLET/NET 5 marks, research contributions or publishing books 5 marks and 10 marks for interview.
The petitioner was aggrieved at the award of 15 marks for teaching experience as it would lead to giving preference to candidates without SLET/NET qualification.
But the Judge said the petitioner had made a “sweeping” statement, without any legal basis, that candidates devoid of SLET/NET qualification were substandard.
The qualifications had been prescribed in the G.O. for the purpose of making a fair selection.
The interview marks were kept low to avoid allegations of favouritism. Besides, the G.O. had been passed in conformity with the decisions of the Supreme Court as well as a Division Bench of the High Court, the Judge pointed out.
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