'End Yuddh Kand': SC regularise services of Sanskrit lecturer to teach 'Karm Kand'

New Delhi, March 24 The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth University to regularise services of a guest lecturer, who was engaged by its Sanskrit Department to teach 'Karm Kand' to students.

A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V. Ramasubramanian said: "It is time for the University to put an end to this 'Yuddh Kand' and allow the appellant to move from 'Karm Kand' to 'Karm Phal Kand'."

Noting that Dinesh Chandra Shukla has been teaching the very same subject for the past nearly 16 years, it said: "The original Selection Committee which found him eligible for appointment, comprised of Professors from the Department of Sanskrit of which the diploma course in 'Karm Kand' was a part, a direction is issued to the 5th respondent- the University to regularise the services of the appellant (Shukla)."

Shukla moved the top court challenging the dismissal of his plea by the high court seeking to quash an order of the Chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth University, rejecting his request to be appointed as lecturer (Karm Kand).

The bench noted that under Section 25(1)(c) of the U.P. University Act, the Academic Council is empowered to advise the Executive Council in connection with the qualifications required to be possessed by persons imparting instructions on particular subjects.

"Therefore, the minutes of the meetings of the Academic Council dated August 22, 2013 has clinched the issue in favour of the appellant," it said.

The bench said if only the high court had looked into the minutes of the meetings of the Academic Council, it could have easily appreciated that the appellant was entitled to succeed.

In the case, on one hand, no candidate was available with a postgraduate degree in 'Karm Kand' and the selection committee which consisted of a representative of the Department of Sanskrit found the appellant to possess a master's degree in the relevant subject.

"The entire controversy appears to have arisen as a result of the tug of war in the year 2006 between the then Chancellor and the then Vice Chancellor, making the appellant a victim in the line of fire. Unfortunately, the High Court omitted to take note of all this," noted the bench.

In 2006, an advertisement was issued by the university inviting applications for appointment to one post of lecturer in Karm Kand.

In the case of the appellant, the selection committee had recommended his candidature for appointment to the post. But the Executive Council disagreed with the selection committee on the ground that the Vice Chancellor failed to request the Chancellor to nominate subject experts in the selection committee. Shukla had challenged the Chancellor's order passed in 2012, rejecting recommendation made by the selection committee for his appointment.

The division bench of the Allahabad High Court in 2015 dismissed the writ petition of the appellant on the ground that after the order of remand, the Chancellor had consulted a few experts and found that the subject of 'Karm Kand' is altogether different from the subject Sanskrit and that therefore, with the qualifications that the appellant possessed, he could not have been selected for the post.

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