Patna High Court Says BSUSC's Asst Professor Recruitment Drive Not In Line With Reservation Rules, Backlog Vacancies Not Earmarked Separately

The Patna High Court has ordered the Bihar State University Service Commission (BSUSC) to re-conduct recruitment to 4,638 Assistant Professor positions in the State after it found that the earlier selection process was unlawful and in complete violation of the applicable rules of reservations as mandated by the Constitution of India.While allowing the writ petition filed by Dr. Amod Prabodhi and various others, the single bench of Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma instructed the State government and the Commission to reopen the recruitment process after dividing the openings in accordance with the applicable law.While declaring that the impugned advertisement was unlawful, the Court however granted some relief to newly appointed Assistant Professors who had already started working in their positions following selection, ruling that their appointments would not be "disturbed" and that their appointments would be adjusted to take into account the backlog of openings in their respective categories. The court also made some important and significant observations with respect to the need to ensure that recruitment processes are carried out in accordance with the law laid down in several judgments passed by the Supreme Court and the High Court. The entire gravamen of the petition was a challenge to the advertisement dated September 21, 2020 issued by BSUSC inviting application for the appointment of 4,638 Assistant Professor in 13 Universities. The petitioners contested the selection process, arguing that the positions classified in the advertisement violated the State's 1991 legislation on reservations and that in some cases, the reservations had also exceeded the Supreme Court-prohibited 50% threshold. Submissions of the PetitionerThe petitioners broadly made the following submissions:The reservation quota has been wrongly applied in the advertisement, resulting in a decrease in the number of General posts and Backward Class posts while increasing the percentage for Scheduled Tribe, women of Backward Class, and Scheduled Caste.The advertisement does not mention the inclusion of backlog posts, and even if included, the calculation has been done wrongly, violating the law laid down by the Supreme Court relating to filling up of posts under Article 16(4)(A) and 16(4)(B).The principle of backlog vacancies has been applied incorrectly to the current advertisement, and the method of calculating backlog posts is erroneous and contrary to Supreme Court principles.The criteria/formula adopted by the respondents for filling backlog posts is alleged to be wholly erroneous and mis-conceived.Reservation for Disabled Category and Wards of Freedom Fighters has been applied incorrectly and needs to be applied horizontally in each category and subject-wise, respectively.Submissions of the State and BSUSCSubmissions raised by Shri Pawan Chaudhury on behalf of the Commission, and supported by the other co-counsel, Shri Subhash Chandra Mishra were:The reservation policy was framed by the State Government after consulting the concerned universities, and a list of available posts under each category for various subjects in different universities was provided to the Commission. Each university was treated as a separate unit, and the roster was applied at the university level in the subject. The same approach was adopted for horizontal reservation and the identification of backlog posts and disabled categories.An amendment was made to the Reservation Act of 1991, adding a proviso to Section 4(1)(b), which states that while filling up the backlog posts and carry forward vacancies of the previous year with respect to the reserved class, the maximum limit of reservation of 50% would not apply, and it would be treated as a separate and distinct class.The word ‘vacancy’ was to mean posts in terms of the judgement passed in R.K. Sabharwal & Ors. Vs. State of Punjab & Ors. 1995 (2) SCC 745. An amendment was made in the Bihar State Universities Act 2013 and Patna Universities Act authorising Bihar Public Service Commission for making recommendation for appointment of Assistant Professor. The Commission conducted an exercise on the basis of requisition sent from the Universities who did not indicate backlog/carry forward vacancies. The State Government passed a resolution on 20th March 2014, deciding that out of the total number of posts requisitioned by the University, 75% of the total vacancies be filled up subject-wise as current vacancies as per roster clearance and 25% was kept pending as backlog which were to be filled later on. The B.P.S.C. was accordingly sent a requisition for the year 2014 for which the selection process has been almost completed except for some subjects.Analysis and JudgementIn order to adjudicate the issues raised, the Court categorised the adjudication in the following categories: Backlog, E.W.S. Reservation, Disabled Category, and Wards of Freedom FightersThe Court observed that the entire answer to the ...

Patna High Court Says BSUSC's Asst Professor Recruitment Drive Not In Line With Reservation Rules, Backlog Vacancies Not Earmarked Separately

Bhavya Singh

Tags