: PIL seeks quashing of backdoor postings in Makhanlal Chaturvedi University of Journalism, Bhopal (MP) : Jabalpur : A PIL (Writ Petition No. 17285/ 2011) is admitted by Jabalpur High Court against the mass illegal appointment in Makhanlal Chaturvedi Rashtriya Patrakarita Vishwvidyalaya, Bhopal. After issuing notice to 8 of the beneficiaries, and UGC ,the court has ordered them to file reply in January next year.
The bench of Justice Mr. Harkauli and Justice Alok Aradhe , on Friday- 16 th December has sought explanation by all the respondents. Petitioner Dr. Ashutosh Mishra through his counsel Mr. Pratush Tripathi & Mr. Ajay Mishra submitted that the recent appointments in Patrakarita University has been done by violating the norms, procedure and merit and also the eligibility criteria has been ignored. He has challenged the appointment of 6 professors, one publication officer and one officer on special duty (OSD) by claiming that all of them were given job without even advertising the posts.
Mr. Ashok Tandan was appointed on 14 October 2010 by the order of CM, who is also the Chairman Executive Council of University ,in a note sheet by stating that he ( Ashok Tandan)should be given senior professor’s post .No selection process like inviting applications, scrutinizing, interview were carried out and he was appointed .The counsel for petitioner pleaded that the appointment is a clear case of illegal accommodation and Mr. Shivraj Singh Chauhan has used his commanding situation.and has given benefit to his associate.
In a similar manner ,Mr. Saurabh Malviya was also appointed as publication officer by Mr. Chauhan ‘s order on note sheet for a period of two years on 8 th October 2010. On the same day ,Registrar of the University issued the appointment letter to Mr. Malviya and he joined instantly on a fixed salary of Rs. 30,000/ per month. Earlier the Chief Minister passed order to establish publication department on 4 th October 2010 and further directed to put this as an agenda item in the next General Body Meeting of University to get it’s consent. The manner in which Mr. Malviya has been appointed is questioned in writ petition (PIL )by saying that the post was created only to accommodate him . It has been put before the High Court that without obtaining anybody else’s application, Malviya was taken without any competition so persons having similar or better qualification were not given opportunity to even contest for the post.
Raghavendra Singh was appointed as Officer on Special Duty on contract for two years on 8 th October 2011 on a Rs. 75,000 per month salary where as it is not a sanctioned post in the setup of University. His appointment has been challenged by stating that he has been given undue benefit by the CM. In Singh’s appointment also ,no procedure were followed and without any advertisement he was taken from backdoor . Stating that it is a violation of Section 6 of University Act and Article 14 & 16 of the Constitution of India it was brought to the notice of Court that while appointing Malviya and Raghvendra Singh, no reservation policy was adopted and so are illegal.
Mr. Nand Kishore Trikha’s appointment as senior professor on 22 November 2010 who is being given a consolidated salary of Rs. 87,000/ per month ignoring the fact that his age was more than 75 years where as according to UGC norms no one can be appointed as a faculty who has attained 70 years of age. Trikha’s date of birth is 15 November 1935 and on 22 November 2010, he was above 75 years and was appointed without the availability of even bio data. The fact is shown to the Court that in University’s internal noting ,the then Registrar objected in writing that as Mr. Trikha is over age so his salary can not be released and referred for seeking guidance from the Department of Higher Education of the State but was later continued and salary was given to Mr. Trikha. Mr. Trikha was offered the post without advertising the same .
Mr. Devesh Kishore, Mr. Ramji Tripathi and Mr. Ashish Joshi were also appointed as professors in similar manner on 22 November 2010, 24 November 2010 and on 22 November 2010 respectively. They are drawing more than Rs.84,000 and Rs. 71000 ( Ashish Joshi) per month salary and were appointed and serving without facing any interview, without the post’ s advertisement . They got the job by merely getting cleared their names by General Council of University. In the petition it is alleged that they were given undue advantage and no one other than these three were even got a chance to apply so is violation of Constitutional provision. Mr. Joshi was not having a single day teaching experience and neither was having Ph. D. in media discipline. He was illegally accommodated as he has recently ( in 2009)acquired his master’s degree in media/ journalism and became professor directly where as a minimum of 10 years teaching experience is essential according to 2000 UGC norms.
On the appointment of Mr. Amitabh Bhatnagar , it is submitted before the High Court that he was working as AGM in NABARD and was taken on deputation in University as Professor- Management without taking reservation policy into consideration .This fact was brought to the notice by none other than the Registrar of the University but was overruled and on 10 th March 2011 appointment letter to him was issued . The petitioner said that this appointment too is made on the basis of exercising arbitrary . He, without any competition and advertisement, was given highest faculty position which is flagrant violation of rules. Dr. Ashutosh Msihra has prayed before the High Court that all the 8 appointments be quashed as are illegal and done arbitrarily.
