HC sets aside appointment orders of three college Principals
Lack essential qualification : Div Bench
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 08 2015: A Division Bench of the High Court of Manipur consisting Chief Justice Lakshmi Kanta Mahapatra and Justice N Kotiswar Singh in a judgment passed on October 5 set aside the appointment of Principals of three Government colleges, said a statement issued by Federation of Government College Teachers' Associations (FEGOCTA), Manipur.

The judgment was passed on the ground that the three appointed Principals do not possess essential qualification and experience of research guidance as per the UGC regulations 2010, the statement said.

As such, the Court ordered that the recommendations of the Manipur Public Service Commission regarding their appointment as Principals and subsequent appointment by the Government of Manipur under vide order dated 14th November, 2014 are not valid and hence their appointment has been set aside.

High Court of Manipur

The High Court order came in response to the three writ petitions filed by 10 petitioners supported by FEGOCTA, it added.

The statement further said that the writ petitions were filed after the State Government and MPSC failed to act on the written requests submitted by FEGOCTA regarding the issue.

Advocate Dr RK Deepak Singh represented the petitioners in the High Court, the statement said.

Through their writ petitions, the petitioners told the Court that the three appointed Principals do not possess essential qualification and experience of research guidance.

Further, the State Government and MPSC had also violated UGC regulations 2010 in the constitution of the screening committee for API calculation.

There was lack of transparency in the recruitment process of these Principals, the statement said.

Saying that the State Government should have constituted Manipur Higher Education Service as demanded by FEGOCTA earlier, the statement said that this could have prevented filing of Court cases.

Manipur Higher Education Service would bring the higher education in the right perspective, the statement said.

At present, a lot of public money and time is being spent in defending the irregularities and violations of UGC regulations and in fighting different Court cases relating to higher education, the statement said.

The ultimate sufferers of these standoffs are students and higher education, the statement observed.