- (1.) Heard Sri Vikas Budhwar, Advocate on behalf of the petitioner, Sri G.K. Singh, Senior Advocate on behalf of U.P. Public Service Commission, Sri Ram Gopal Tripathi, Advocate on behalf of the University of Allahabad, Standing Counsel on behalf of the State Respondents, Sri Arvind Srivastava, Advocate on behalf of respondent no. 5, Sri Radha Kant Ojha, Senior Advocate assisted by Sri Ratnakar Upadhyay, Advocate on behalf of respondent no. 14. Petitioner before this Court, Vinay Tripathi, claims to be working as Lecturer Orthopaedic in Moti Lal Nehru Medical College, Allahabad (hereinafter referred to as 'Medical College'). He is stated to have done his M.S. in Orthopaedic from the same Medical College under guidance of respondent no. 14 i.e. Ajai Kumar Verma posted as Lecturer Orthopaedic in the same Medical College. The petitioner seeks a writ of quo warranto for declaring the appointment of respondent no. 14 as Lecturer Orthopaedics as a nullity and further to restrain him from continuing on the post of Lecturer Orthopaedic. Further prayers for recovery of the salary paid etc. have also been made.
(2.) Facts relevant for deciding the present writ petition are as follows: An advertisement was published by the U.P. Public Service Commission in the employment news, being Advertisement No. 2/2009-10 dated 18.07.2009, for appointment on various posts of lecturers in various subjects in various State Medical Colleges situate in the State of Uttar Pradesh, which amongst other included the post of Lecturer Orthopaedics in medical college at Allahabad. It is not in dispute that respondent no. 14 made an application in response to the said advertisement. The select panel for the post of Lecturer Orthopaedics was notified on 1st August, 2010, wherein the name of respondent no. 14 finds mention at serial no. 7. On the basis of the selection made by the U.P. Public Service Commission, the State Government appointed respondent no. 14 as Lecturer (Orthopaedics) vide order dated 14th December, 2010 against the vacancy available in the Medical College at Allahabad. This selection and appointment of respondent no. 14 is questioned by the present petitioner on the ground that he does not possesses the requisite minimum qualifications as prescribed by the Medical Council of India (hereinafter referred to as 'MCI') for the post of Lecturer (Orthopaedics) and therefore his appointment is null and void. From the records of the present writ petition it is clear that the qualifications for the post of Lecturer (Orthopaedics), as mentioned in the advertisement, were as per Rule 8 of the U.P. State Medical College Teachers Services Rules, 1990 (hereinafter referred to as 'Rules') as amended up to date. It is not in dispute that the said rules regulate the qualifications and the mode and manner of selection on the post of teachers in various State Medical Colleges. Under the advertisement a prospective candidate was required to possess a postgraduate degree in Orthopaedics having due recognition from MCI with three years teaching experience in the subject concerned from a recognized Medical College as Resident/Registrar/Administrator/Tutor.
(3.) The prescribed qualifications read as follows: (i) requisite recognized postgraduate qualification in the subject. (ii) three years teaching experience in the subject concerned from a recognized medical college as Resident/Registrar/Administrator/Tutor. According to the petitioner, respondent no. 14 neither has the requisite academic qualification nor he had the required teaching experience of three years to his credit on the last date of submission of the application for the post and therefore not qualified in accordance with the statutory provisions for such appointment. From the records it is apparent that respondent no. 14, after passing the M.B.B.S. Examination, was admitted to the diploma course in Orthopaedics in Moti Lal Nehru Medical College Allahabad, where he worked as such from June, 2003 to May, 2005. It is stated that thereafter he has obtained the degree of Diplomate National Board (herein after referred to as 'DNB') from the National Board of Examinations. The respondent no. 14 is further stated to have worked as Senior Resident in Bhatacharya Orthopaedics and Related Research Centre (P) Ltd. Narayanpur between 1st July 2007 to February, 2009. According to the petitioner in terms of Schedule-I of Minimum Qualification for Teachers in Medical Institutions Regulations, 1998 (hereinafter referred to as '1998 Regulations'), for the DNB qualification being treated to be equivalent to MD/MS, there has to be one year research experience and this one year period has to be counted from a date subsequent to date the DNB degree was granted in favour of respondent no. 14 in the facts of the case 28.09.2009. Even prior to the expiry of this one year period after the date of grant of DNB degree, appointment letter had been issued in favour of respondent no. 14. Therefore, he was not possessed of any degree of MD/MS or equivalent thereto as prescribed under the MCI Regulations. To be specific it is stated that a candidate has to be possessed of prescribed minimum qualification by the last date of submission of the application, which in the facts of the case was 07th August, 2009 and therefore the respondent no. 14 cannot be said to be eligible.;