Court orders process for appointment of IMS principal
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, September 07 2022:
The High Court of Manipur on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed against the appointed of the principal of LMS Law College and further issued directions to the authority concerned to initiate the process for appointment of new principal.
The hearing of the petition filed by one Md Salatur Rahman, mentioning the state government represented by commissioner/secretary (higher education), director of University and Higher Education, Manipur Public Service Commission and Department of Personnel and Administration represented by commissioner/secretary as respondents, was held in the court of Manipur High Court Justice MV Muralidhar on August 18 and judgment reserved.
The judgment hearing was held on Wednesday.
According to the petition, on October 27,2018, an advertisement for the post of principal of LMS Law College was notified.
The petitioner was appointed as a lecturer at LMS Law College for a period of 6 months on September 22, 1988, following which he was included amongst the many lecturers of government colleges who were regularised.
The petitioner was then promoted to the post of associate professor and later, appointed as the principal in-charge of LMS Law College on December 22, 2012 .
Since then, he has been discharging his duties as the principal in-charge of the college.
On October 27, 2018, the MPSC secretary called for applications from eligible candidates to fill in the post of principal in three government colleges including LMS Law College without considering the provisions of Bar Council of India.
This act violated the fundamental rights of the petitioner.
After listening to arguments of both sides, the Court observed that there is no regulation that the petitioner who held the post of principal in-charge for such a long time is entitled for additional advantages.
The petitioner is aware that the in-charge post could be regularised at any given point of time and as such, had filed the petition with the intention of delaying the recruitment process.
The Court also rejected the petitioner s claim that the minimum qualification mentioned in the notice issued by the respondents is invalid as per the BCI regulations.
The Court then put a stop to the matter and dismissed the petition, while directing the chief secretary to take appropriate against the officials who did not advertise or take any steps to fill the vacant principal post from 2012-2018 and allowed the petitioner to hold the post of principal in-charge for around 10 years.
It also vacated the interim order issued on November 23, 2018 and directed the authorities concerned to take strict action against the officials who failed to take any step to vacate the same, while ordering for completion of the recruitment process for the post of principal of LMS Law College within three months.
The Court further directed the chief secretary to check if other government colleges are experiencing the same issue and to take requisite steps to resolve the same.