TMI Blog1963 (8) TMI 47X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was that the appointment of Anniah Gowda to the post of Research Reader was illegal in the face of the prescribed qualifications and that he was qualified to be appointed to that post. That is why he wanted the appointment of Anniah Gowda to be quashed, and he asked for a writ, directing the University to appoint him in that post. To his petition, he impleaded the University of Mysore by its Registrar, and Anniah Gowda as the opposite party. The University of Mysore and Anniah Gowda disputed the validity of the claim made by the respondent. lie, urged that Anniah Gowda was properly appointed Research Reader and that the contention made by the respondent that the said appointment was invalid was not justified. On these pleadings, evidence was led by both the parties in respect of their respective contentions in the form of affidavits. The High Court has held that the appointment of Anniah Gowda was invalid and so it has quashed the Resolution of the Board of Appointment of the University of Mysore recommending his appointment and his directed that his appointment subsequendy made by the Chancellor of the University should be set aside. The High Court, however, refrained from gra ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ppellant No. 1 by the University Grants Commission. Four applications were received for the posts of Professors and Reader in English and these Applicants were interviewed by the Board on June 8, 1960. The Board had the advantage of consulting Professor C.D. Narasimhiah, Principal, Maharaja's College, Mysore. After taking into account the opinion expressed by Prof. Narasimhiah, the Board considered the academic qualifications of the four applicants and their performance at the interview and came to the conclusion that none of them was fit enough to be appointed a Professor under the U.G.C. Scheme in grade 8001,250. Accordingly, the Board resolved that the said posts be kept vacant for the present and be re advertised. In regard to the filling of the post of Reader under the U.G.C. Scheme in the grade of 500-25-800, the Board, after considering all aspects of the case, came to the conclusion that appellant No. 2 was the most suitably qualified person and unanimously resolved that he be appointed Reader in the said grade under the U.G.C. Scheme. This report was in due course approved by the Chancellor on October 3, 1960, and after he was appointed to the post of Reader, appellant ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Court that the office in question is a public office and is held by a usurper without legal authority, and that inevitably would lead to the enquiry as to whether the appointment of the alleged usurper has been made in accordance with law or not. In the present case, it does not appear that the attention of the Court was drawn to this aspect of the matter. The judgment does not show that any statutory provision is for rules were placed before the Court and that in making the appointment of appellant No. 2 these statutory provisions had been contravened. The matter appears to have been argued before the High Court on the assumption that if the appointment of appellant No. 2 was shown to be inconsistent with the qualification as they were advertised by appellant No. 1, that itself would justify the issue of a writ of quo warranto. In the present proceedings, we do not propose to consider whether this assumption was well founded or not. We propose to deal with the appeals on the basis that it may have been open, to the High Court to quash the appointment of appellant No. 2 even if it was shown that one or the other of the qualifications prescribed by the advertisement published by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l of the Chancellor on January 22, 1960, but we do not know even today when they were published in the Gazette. Similarly, the ordinances framed were approved by the Chancellor on the same day, but we do not know when they came into force. The statutory rules, thus, framed and approved, come into force on the date of the publication of the Mysore Gazette, and the ordinances come into force from such date as the Chancellor may direct (vide s. 42(5) of the Mysore University Act No. 23 of 1956). Therefore, though some reference was made to the ordinances, no attempt was made to show when the ordinances came into force and no arguments appear to have been urged ,on that account. The judgment delivered by the High Court in the present proceedings is an elaborate judgment and we think it would be legitimate to assume that it does not refer to the statutory rules and ordinances for the simple reason that neither party relied on them and the. High Court had, therefore no occasion to examine them. In any case, we do not think it would be open to the respondent to take a ground about the effect of the statutory rules and ordinances for the first time in appeal. The petition, which he origina ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... imately came to the conclusion that though the material adduced by the appellants on this point was unsatisfactory, it could not make a finding in favour of the respondent. In this connection, the High Court has severely criticised the conduct of appellant No. 1 to which we will refer later. Thus, it is clear that substantially the High Court decided to quash the appointment of appellant No. 2 on the ground that it was plain that he did not satisfy the first qualification. In this connection, the High Court has also criticised the report made by the Board and has observed that the Members of the Board did not appear to have applied their minds to the question which they were called upon to consider. In our opinion, in coming to the conclusion that appellant No. 2 did not satisfy the first qualification, the High Court is plainly in error. The judgment shows that the learned Judges concentrated on the question as to whether a candidate obtaining 50 per cent marks could be said to have secured a high Second Class Degree, and if the relevant question had to be determined solely by reference to this aspect of the matter, the conclusion of the High Court would have been beyond reproa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rham University which appellant No. 2 has obtained, can be and must have been taken by the Board to be equivalent to a high Second Class Master's Degree of an Indian University, and that means the first qualification is satisfied by appellant No. 2. That being so, we must hold that the High Court was in error in issuing a writ of quo warranto, quashing the appointment of appellant No. 2. Before we part with these appeals, however, reference must be made to two other matters. In dealing with the case presented before it by the respondent, the High Court has criticised the report made by the Board and has observed that the circumstances disclosed by the report made it difficult for the High Court to treat the recommendations made by the experts with the respect that they generally deserve. We are unable to see the point of criticism of the High Court in such academic matters. Boards of Appointments are nominated by the Universities and when recommendations made by them and the appointments following on them, are challenged before courts, normally the courts should be slow to interfere with the opinions expressed by the experts. There is no allegation about mala fides against 38-2 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ar tendency to mislead the Court, if not an actual attempt to do so . The learned Attorney-General has complained that this criticism is not justified. In fact, after the judgment was pronounced, an application was made to the same learned Judges to expunge the criticism made against appellant No. 1, and in support of this application, Mr. Ethirajulu Naidu, who was then the Advocate-General and who had argued the matter before the High Court, made an affidavit, showing that appellant No. 1 could not be charged with having attempted to mislead the High Court. Even then, the High Court was not fully satisfied, and so in a judgment delivered by it on the application subsequently made to quash the said observations, the learned judges observed that they were willing to accept and did accept the assurance given by the learned Advocate-General that there was no actual attempt made to mislead the Court.' Even so, they held that the material placed before the Court could or did have a tendency to mislead, and that is the opinion which they thought even after hearing the learned Advocate General, was well founded, at any rate, not unwarranted This criticism has been made by the High Cou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le that though the respondent purported to make a rejoinder to the affidavit filed by appellant No. 2, the details given by appellant No. 2 in regard to his teaching experience have not been specifically or categorically traversed by the respondent. Besides, it is significant that the Government gazetted officers' Register, which was produced before the High Court later-, amply bears out the facts in the statement filed by Thimmaraju. Therefore, one thing is clear that the material fact about the length of the teaching experience of appellant No. 2 is fully established by the affidavit of appellant No,. 2 and even by the gazetted officers' Register which was later produced, and so, it seems to us that the High Court need not have been so severe on appellant No. 1 when it observed that the material produced by appellant No. 1 had a tendency to mislead the Court, if not an actual attempt to do so. It is undoubtedly true that Thimmaraju should have looked into the record more carefully and should have stated clearly that the facts stated in the statement filed by him were taken partly from the individual service register of appellant No. 2 and partly from the Register, which i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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