- (1.) The first respondent had applied for the post of Reader in the Postgraduate Department of Hindi at the Gulbarga Centre of the Karnataka University, Dharwad pursuant to an advertisement dated 9/3/1979/4/4/1979. The name of the first respondent was recommended by the Board of Appointment constituted by the University. The Chancellor, however, rejected the nomination of the first respondent on the following ground: "The petitioner is a BA with an ordinary pass class and MA in 2nd class. He does not possess a Doctorate and his research output is reported to be not of a very high standard. Therefore, he does not fulfil the first two of the qualifications mentioned above. Besides, there were several better qualified candidates than the petitioner and it was therefore that the Chancellor could not persuade himself to approve of the petitioner's appointment. "
(2.) This rejection was the subject-matter of challenge before the High court. The High court has held that the rejection by the Chancellor of the recommendation of the Board of Appointment was not valid since he could not sit in judgment over the merits of the selection made by the Board and take a view contrary to the view taken by the Board regarding the suitability of the candidate. Aggrieved by this decision of the High court, the present appeal has been filed. At the time when the special leave was granted, the then Advocate General for the State had submitted that since this case involves a question of principle as to the powers of the Chancellor under the Explanation to Ss. (6 of Section 49 of the Karnataka State Universities Act, 1976 and the question is of frequent occurrence, it requires to be settled by this court. He had also given an undertaking that the appointments of the respondents concerned, as per the directions of the High court, would be made irrespective of the result of this appeal. This is recorded in our order of 10/11/1986. In view thereof, the only question which requires consideration is the extent of the powers of the Chancellor under the Explanation to Section 49 (6 of the Karnataka State Universities Act, 1976.
(3.) Under Section 49 Ss. (1 there shall be a Board of Appointment for selecting persons for appointment as Professors, Librarians, Readers and Lecturers in the university. Ss. (2 deals with the composition of the Board. Under Ss. (6 it is provided as follows: "49.(6 The Board shall interview, adjudge the merit of each candidate in accordance with the qualifications advertised and prepare a list of persons selected arranged in the order of merit. It shall forward the list to the Chancellor who shall make appointments in accordance with the same. Explanation.-Nothing in this Ss. shall be construed as requiring the Chancellor to make appointments in accordance with the list where he is of the opinion that it does not satisfy the provisions of this Act or the statutes relating to such appointments. ";