R.R.Misra - (1.) BY means of the present petition, the petitioner seeks to quash the impugned order dated 26th December, 1988 passed by the Chancellor of the Purvanchal University (Annexure 13 to the writ petition) remanding the matter of determination of seniority between the petitioner Dr. Ram Pratap Singh and respondent no. 3 Sri D. N. Srivastava.
(2.) RELEVANT facts in this regard are that Sri Durgaji Post Graduate College, Chandesar, Azamgarh is a college imparting post graduate teaching and is duly affiliated to the Purvanchal University, Jaunpur. Before the establishment of the said Purvanchal University, the College in question was affiliated to Gorakhpur University. The said College is on the the maintenance grants-in-aid list of the State Government and all its teachers and other employees are paid their salaries through the State funds in accordance with the Provisions of the U. P. State Universities Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). Since the year 1972, the Department of Agricultural Botany where the petitioner Dr. R. P. Singh had been teaching was raised to the level of post graduate department and classes of M. Sc. in Agricultural Botany are being undertaken by the College. Sri D. N Srivastava (respondent no. 3) is teaching in the Department of Agricultural Chemistry which is a Department altogether different from Agricultural Botany. The said Department of Agricultural Chemistry till today has never been raised to the status of Post Graduate Department. Admittedly by an order dated 11th August 1964 the University of Gorakhpur had passed an order approving the appointment of both, the petitioner as well as Sri D. N. Srivastava (respondent no. 3) as respective heads of Department concerned. Since the Department of Agricultural Botany, as stated earlier, had been made a Post Graduate Department, hence one post of a Reader had been provided by the State Government and admittedly by an order dated 21st August 1972 the petitioner has been appointed as Reader/Head of the Department of Agricultural Botany. The petitioner joined the said post also as such. The said appointment of the petitioner Dr. R P. Singh was also approved later on by an order dated 10th July, 1973 by the Vice Chancellor of the Gorakhpur University. Accordingly the petitioner had also been drawing his salary on the revised grade of Reader which had been made applicable in the State of U. P. since 1st January, 1973. The petitioner has annexed to the writ petition, a copy of the order passed by the Director of Education (Higher Education) U. P., Allahabad dated 12th November 1980 fixing the salary of the petitioner in the new scale as Reader/ Head Department of Agricultural Botany as Annexure 4 to the writ petition Subsequently the petitioner had also been paid arrears of salary in respect of the post of Reader by the Management after the same had been approved by the District Inspector of Schools. Factually, these facts are not in dispute between the parties. Subsequently on account of the retirement of Sri Durga Prasad Misra, one post of Principal fell vacant on 30th June 1987 in the said College. The petitioner made a representation to the Vice Chancellor that he being the senior most and the only Reader in the whole College was entitled to be appointed as acting Principal of the College The Vice Chancellor thereupon passed an order dated 27th September, 1987, a copy of which has been filed as Annexure 6 to the writ petition, directing the Manager to allow the petitioner to work as acting Principal of the College. Sri D. N. Srivastava (respondent no. 3) had filed a representation before the Chancellor against the said order dated 27th September 1987 passed by the Vice Chancellor. In the said representation Sri D. N. Srivastava staked his claim as senior to the petitioner. A reply to the said representation before the Chancellor was filed by the petitioner. In his reply the petitioner had asserted that according to the Government Order dated 9th July, 1968 every teacher teaching in Post Graduate Department was senior to any teacher teaching in Under Graduate Department and accordingly he was senior to Sri D. N. Srivastava. Instances were also cited in the said reply of the petitioner as to how earlier the Chancellor had passed orders acting on the basis of the said Government Order dated 9th July 1968. By way of precedents, two decisions were enclosed by the petitioner in his reply letter, namely one delivered by the Chancellor himself on 17th October, 1987 and the other delivered by the Vice Chancellor vide his order dated 19th September, 1987, true copies of these orders have also been filed as Annexures 9 and 10 to the writ petition Copies of the two relevant Government Orders dated 7th March 1968 and the classificatory Government Order dated 9th July, 1968 have been filed as Annexures 11 and 12 to the writ petition Thereupon the Chancellor passed the impugned order dated 26th December, 1988, a copy of which has been filed as Annexure 13 to the writ petition.
(3.) IN the meantime the Director of Education also came to pass an order dated 2nd September, 1988 asking the Manager/Principal of the College in question that since the petitioner was not entitled to act as Reader in the institution, he was not entitled for payment of his salary. As a consequence thereof it was stated in the said letter of the Director of Education that the salary paid to the petitioner for the earlier period as Reader should be recovered from him. This order of the Director of Education was passed without giving any opportunity to the petitioner whatsoever and is under challenge in a separate writ petition pending in this Court. It may also be made clear that the present writ petition is confined to the controversy between the parties relating to their seniority only and the present writ petition has got nothing to do with the appointment of an Ad hoc Principal of the College in question.;