IMPHAL, October 8: A Division Bench of the High Court of Manipur consisting of Chief Justice Justice Laxmi Kanta Mohapatra and Justice N Kotiswar Singh on October 5 had set aside the appointment of three government college Principals, said a press statement of the Federation of Government College Teachers`™ Associations, Manipur.
It said this significant judgment is based on the ground that the three appointed Principals `lack the essential qualification of the experience of research guidance` required as per UGC Regulations 2010.
The High Court ruled that `the three obviously cannot be given appointment to the posts of Principals` it said.
Hence the Court orders that `their recommendation by the Manipur Public Service Commission for appointment as Principals`™ and their `subsequent appointment` by the Government of Manipur vide Order dated November 14, 2014 is `not valid` and hence their appointment is `set aside`, it said.
The High Court order was in response to three Writ Petitions challenging the appointment of the three Principals.
The ten petitioners of the Writ Petition No. 941 of 2014 are supported by Federation of Government College Teachers`™ Associations, Manipur (FEGOCTA), it said.
This was after the State government and MPSC failed to act on the written requests submitted by FEGOCTA on the Principal`™s issue, it continued.
Advocate Dr RK Deepak Singh represented the ten Petitioners, it said.
The ten petitioners prayed to the High Court that the three appointed Principals do not possess essential qualification of research guidance. Further State government and MPSC violated UGC Regulations, 2010 guidelines in the constitution of Screening Committee for API calculation, it said.
There was lack of transparency in the recruitment process of the Principals and the petitioners and FEGOCTA took legal recourse as they have full faith in the judiciary and did not want to disturb the academic atmosphere, it said.
The State Government should constitute Manipur Higher Education Service as demanded by FEGOCTA earlier, it said.
This will reduce and prevent avoidable court cases by providing proper inputs. This will help to bring higher education good governance and in the effective implementation of the national higher education policies in Manipur, it said.
At present a lot public money and time is spent to defend the irregularities and violations of UGC Regulations and in fighting the increased Court cases relating to higher education, it added.
The ultimate causality is to the students and higher education in the State, it said.