Kochi: The Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has instructed the Mahatma Gandhi University to frame fresh guidelines within one month to conduct interviews for appointments to assistant professor posts in colleges affiliated with it.
The High Court nullified the order issued by the university dated October 30, 2021, making changes to the existing guidelines and by fixing 50 marks as the maximum points for the interview to the post.
The Division Bench observed that as per the UGC rules, the selection process should be based solely on the performance in the interview. Factors such as teaching experience and the number of research publications should be considered only for shortlisting the candidates.
The High Court Division Bench, consisting of Justice P B Suresh Kumar and Justice C S Sudha, gave the ruling in an appeal filed by Dr Smitha Chacko with regard to the criteria fixed by the MG University for appointment to the post of Hindi professor.
Smitha moved the High Court after a single bench rejected her petition challenging the new university order and the appointment of Dr Lija Achama George in the Hindi Department of Pathanamthitta Catholicate College.
The Division Bench nullified Dr Lija's appointment and asked the college to conduct a fresh interview to the post within one month as per the revised guidelines.
The petitioner contended that the notification for filling up the particular post had clearly laid down that the selection would be based on the marks received in the interview and the maximum marks for the interview would be 20. The college asked her to appear for the interview on November 16, 2021. But in the meantime, the university issued a new notification, fixing the maximum marks for interview as 50. Besides, the university also fixed separate marks for teaching aptitude (10 marks) and research aptitude (20 marks).
The petitioner argued that the University's appointment notification went against the provisions of the UGC rules.
The Division Bench accepted the contention of the petitioner that the appointment in question was not done on the basis of the marks scored in the interview. Moreover, marks were granted to the selected teacher for teaching experience and research publications.
