Case Law Details
Dr. Sonia K Das Vs Cochin University of Science and Technology (Kerala High Court)
While it is no doubt true that as per the statutory provisions the nomination of the experts had to be by the Syndicate, it is not in dispute in the instant case that the Subject Experts were nominated by the Vice Chancellor, who is the superior authority under the University Statutes and, more importantly, the decision of the Vice Chancellor was subsequently ratified by the Syndicate itself. Thus, the argument with regard to the manner in which the nomination of experts was done is merely one of a technical nature, which cannot have a bearing on the validity of selection procedure that was followed.
As regards the submissions made with regard to the legality of the procedure adopted by the Selection Committee, in the absence of statutory norms or guidelines by the appointing authority, we find that the sheet anchor of the appellant’s case is the judgment of the Full Bench of this Court in Keshav Mohan v. University of Kerala [2009 (4) KLT 573], that found as follows:
“(1) The selection committee, which has been statutorily constituted, should follow the norms for assessing the merit of rival candidates, if such norms are laid down in the statute. The Selection Committee has no jurisdiction or authority to either relax any of the norms or vary the same.
(2) If the statute which provides for the constitution of the Selection Committee does not provide for the norms for the selection committee, then it is open to the appointing authority to lay down instructions and guidelines providing for such norms. In such a case, the Selection Committee is bound to follow such administrative instructions in conducting selection.
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