Dr. Happy Kaur vs State Of J&K And Anr

Through the medium of this writ petition, the petitioner is seeking to quash Order No.29 of 2019 dated 01.05.2019 issued by Principal, Government Medical College, Jammu, respondent No.2 herein, whereby the candidature of petitioner for the post of Assistant Professor in Government Medical College, Jammu on academic arrangement basis came to be rejected. The petitioner is also seeking a direction to the respondents to engage her as Assistant Professor in Govt. Medical College, Jammu on academic arrangement pursuant to Advertisement Notice No.DIP/J-340 dated 14.04.2017.

The facts in short, as averred in the writ petition, are that the petitioner is working as a Lecturer in the Department of Ophthalmology in Government Medical College, Jammu on academic arrangement basis since 10.01.2014. It is averred that vide Notice dated 14.04.2017 applications were invited from the eligible candidates for the post of Assistant Professor on academic arrangement basis initially for a period of one year, extendable up to maximum of six years. Thereafter, vide corrigendum dated 15.04.2017 it was provided that for being eligible for appointment as Assistant Professor, a candidate should have worked as a Lecturer for a period of two years along with one Research publication in indexed National Journal accepted/published as first/second author during the tenure of Lecturership. It is averred that the petitioner being fully eligible applied for one of the two posts of Assistant Professor in the discipline of Ophthalmology and her interview was conducted on 21.04.2017. It is averred that at the time of interview the petitioner also handed over acceptance letter of publication of her Article in Journal of Medical Science and Clinical Research; the said article co-authored by the petitioner though was accepted in the month of March, 2017 itself, yet the date on the letter handed over to the interview committee was dated 20.04.2017. It is averred the petitioner subsequently received Actual Acceptance Letter from the publisher which bore the date 31.03.2017, i.e., the date on which the Article authored by the petitioner was actually accepted by the Journal. This acceptance letter along with application dated 02.05.2017 was personally handed over by the petitioner to respondent No.2. Further, it is averred that since earlier acceptance letter dated 31.03.2017, which was submitted along with application dated 02.05.2017, was not signed one, the respondents asked the petitioner to produce duly signed acceptance letter from the editor of the Journal, which the petitioner deposited the same on 04.05.2017.

It is averred that the petitioner though was eligible in all respects, yet the respondents vide Govt. Oder No.284-HME of 2017 dated 26.05.2017 accorded sanction to the engagement of one Dr. Priyanka Sodani as Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and the respondents did not fill the second post. Feeling aggrieved, the petitioner challenged order dated 26.05.2017 by way of SWP No.1411/2017, which came to be disposed of on 06.12.2017 by directing the competent authority to consider the case of petitioner by passing a speaking order. However, respondent No.2 vide Order No.29 of 2019 dated 01.05.2019, impugned herein, rejected the candidature of petitioner for want of mandatory one research publication/printed for the post of Assistant Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology in Government Medical College, Jammu. Hence, the present writ petition.

Learned counsel appearing for petitioner argued that the reason cited by respondent No.2 that the letter was without signature of the editor is false, as the petitioner had submitted the duly signed acceptance letter from the editor of the journal along with application dated 04.05.2017. He further argued that the opinion formed by the Committee that the acceptance given by the Journal was a post dated acceptance is erroneous as the respondents are misreading issue 04 April 2017 as if "04" is the date of publication, whereas the fact remains that the number 4 depicted above is the Issue number and not the date. He further argued that the research paper of petitioner had already been accepted by the Indexed National Journal for publication before the advertisement was issued. Not only this, the petitioner had also produced the acceptance letter before the interview committee at the time of her interview, however, instead of considering the candidature of petitioner, the respondents rejected the same in most arbitrary and unconstitutional manner.

Objections have been filed on behalf of respondents 1 & 2 averring therein that for want of mandatory research publication for the post of Assistant Professor, the claim of petitioner came to be rejected by passing a speaking order on 01.05.2019. It is averred that during the course of interview, instead of producing print out of work and copy of the journal, where her research paper was published, the petitioner had produced acceptance letter dated 20.04.2017 of Journal of Medical Science and clinical/research on 21.04.2017, i.e., the date of interview. It is averred that the committee examined the acceptance letter dated 20.04.2017 as produced on 21.04.2017 and concluded that the same was not the substitute of the published work. Further, it is averred that in case the article had already been published, there would have been no difficulty with the petitioner to submit the print out of research article at the time of interview.

I have heard learned counsel appearing for the parties, considered their rival contentions and also perused the writ file as well as the record produced by learned Sr. A.A.G.

The advertisement notice clearly states that the application forms along with attested true copies of the relevant documents including professional publication in an indexed National as per MCI Medical Journals should reach the office of Principal, Government Medical College, Jammu by or before 17.04.2017; meaning thereby the petitioner herein was also required to submit her application form along with one research publication in National Journals, accepted/published as first/second author during the tenure of Lecturership, before respondent No.2 by or before 17.04.2017. Admittedly, the interview of petitioner was conducted on 21.04.2017 and, as per own admission of petitioner in paragraph-7 of the writ petition, the petitioner handed over the acceptance letter for publication of her article to the interview committee at the time of interview and that the said letter bore the date 20.04.2017. Thus, as per own admission of petitioner, the petitioner did not enclose along with the application form the acceptance letter for publication of her article, which fact has also been admitted by the petitioner in paragraph-6 of her representation submitted to Advisor to Governor, Health and Medical Education Department (Annexure-XVII) and, second, the acceptance letter, which the petitioner had handed over to the interview committee at the time of interview on 21.04.2017, bore the date as 20.04.2017, whereas the last date for submission of application forms along with relevant documents was 17.04.2017. As regards the contention of petitioner that the acceptance letter wrongly bore the date as 20.04.2017, whereas the article for publication was actually accepted on 31.03.2017, and even in the subsequent acceptance letter the date had been mentioned as 31.03.2017, is a disputed question of fact which cannot be gone into and decided in the present proceedings, that too when the subsequent acceptance letter, which the petitioner submitted on 02.05.2017, was not signed one, and, finally, the petitioner submitted the third acceptance letter from the publisher on 04.05.2017. Not only this, it is also an admitted fact that the article of petitioner had not been published at the time of her interview.

Viewed thus, I do not find any merit in the writ petition and the same is, accordingly, dismissed along with connected CM. Interim direction shall stand vacated forthwith.

Registry is directed to return the record to Mr. Siddiqui against proper receipt.

Jammu (Tashi Rabstan)

27.01.2020 Judge

(Anil Sanhotra)

I pronounce this judgment today, i.e., 27th January, 2020 in terms of Rule 138(3) of the J&K High Court Rules, 1999.