- (1.) BY this writ petition the petitioner challenges firstly the refusal on the part of respondent No. 2 to call the petitioner for interview to the post of Assistant Professor in Operative Dentistry in the Goa Dental College and Hospital and subsequently by way of amendment the jurisdiction of the said respondent No. 2 to hold interviews and give its consultation on the matter of selection to the post of Assistant Professor in the aforesaid Dental College. The petitioner has passed Bachelor of Dental Surgery (B. D. S.) Examination held by the University of Bombay in November, 1979 and also the Examination in Master of Dental Surgery (M. D. S.) in Conservative Dentistry (Operative Dentistry) Branch held by the University of Bombay in October, 1984. He is also registered as a Dentist with the Maharashtra State Dental Council under the provisions of the Dentists Act, 1948 with effect from February 21, 1980. The petitioner worked as Clinical Assistant at Nair Hospital Dental college, Bombay from April 2, 1980 to October 1, 1980, thereafter as Junior Resident in the Department of Dental and Oral Surgery of Goa Medical College from November 1, 1980 to June 30, 1981 and as Clinical Assistant (part-time) from April 1, 1982 to June 17, 1982, as Registrar (full time) from June 18, 1982 to December 17, 1982 and again as Registrar from December 20, 1982 to March 31, 1983 in the Department of Operative Dentistry, Nair Hospital Dental College, Bombay. The petitioner was also appointed thereafter as Lecturer in Operative Dentistry in Goa Dental College and Hospital, Bambolim on ad-hoc basis with effect from November 21, 1983. Then he was appointed also as Assistant Professor in Operative Dentistry in Goa Dental College and Hospital again on ad-hoc basis with effect from April 19, 1986. Of late the petitioner was appointed to the post of Professor in Operative Dentistry in Goa Dental College and Hospital on ad-hoc basis with effect from September 6, 1988.
(2.) ON December 29, 1989 the respondent No. 2 advertised different posts under the Government of Goa and invited applications therefor. Consequent upon this advertisement applications were invited for the posts in Goa Dental College and Hospital being (i) 2 Lecturers in Operative Dentistry; (ii) 1 Assistant Professor in Operative Dentistry; and (iii) 1 Professor in Operative Dentistry. On January 29, 1990 the petitioner made applications for the posts of Lecturer, Assistant Professor and professor in Operative Dentistry. By letter dated July 12, 1990 the petitioner was called for interview for the post of Lecturer which was held on July 23, 1990. As the petitioner reliably learnt from the College that interview for the post of Assistant Professor would be held on September 13, 1990 and he had neither received any call for the said interview upto the time of filing of the petition nor any intimation from the said respondent No. 2 regarding rejection of his application, he apprehended that this action on the part of the respondent No. 2 in holding the interview without sending a call to the petitioner to appear from the interview was arbitrary, discriminatory and likely to cause to him irreparable loss. Hence the petition which was filed by him under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution.
(3.) IT was further the case of the petitioner that the educational qualifications for the post of Assistant Professor as mentioned in the advertisement were as under: "essential : (i) A qualification included in Part I or Part II of the schedule to the Dentists Act, 1948 (16 of 1948); (ii) Postgraduate qualification in Dentistry i. e. M. D. S. from a recognised institution or equivalent; (iii) Should be registered with Dental Council; (iv) 3 years teaching experience after post-graduation as Lecturer, in Dentistry in a recognised Dental College/medical college with Dental wing/dental Institution. Desirable: (i) Research work/publication. (ii) Knowledge of Konkani". The age limit prescribed was "not exceeding 40 years". The petitioner claimed that he possessed all the essential qualifications stated in the said advertisement for the post of Assistant Professor since his B. D. S. degree stands included in the Schedule to the Dentists act and besides the petitioner knows Konkani which is his mother tongue and he is 32 years old, born on September 25, 1975 thus fulfilling all the requirements to be called for interview for the post for which he was applied. Subsequent to the filing of this application the petitioner by way of amendment added to the petitioner further pleadings by stating that the Goa Public service Commission (Exemption from Consultation) Regulations, 1988 had been amended by Notification No. 18/11/87-PER published in the Official Gazette, Series I No. 21, dated August 23, 1990 whereby the Schedule to Regulation 4 which refers to the exemption from consultation from the Commission in regard to any matter mentioned in sub-clauses (a) and (b) of Clause (3) of Article 320 of the Constitution in certain cases of services and posts specified in the Schedule to those Regulations was enlarged so as to include in the Schedule under Clause (ii) all teaching posts in Government Colleges where approval of the University of Goa was required for appointment to such posts. It was the case of the petitioner that the Goa Dental College and Hospital being a Government College and the said post of Assistant Professor being a teaching post where approval of the Goa University was required for the appointment to such post was thus coming into the purview of such Schedule and therefore prior to the selection of such post no consultation was required from the respondent No. 2. It was also pleaded by the petitioner that the said amended Schedule had been already acted upon by the respondent No. 1 and in a similar case of the Education Department the Government had held that in the case of teaching posts the Education Department related to the Goa College of Architecture and the Government had held that approval of the University is necessary and consultation of respondent No. 2 was exempted. The petitioner came to know about this fact namely of the letter dated December 7, 1990 written by the Education Department to respondent No. 2 and only thereafter he learnt that there was a Notification published in the Gazette in respect whereof he was not aware at the time of filing the petition. Since that Notification was going to the root of the matter and taking away the jurisdiction of respondent No. 2 which it possessed at the time of issue of the advertisement, the petitioner added additional prayers after challenging the jurisdiction of respondent No. 2 from declaring the results of the interview for the post of Assistant Professor in Operative Dentistry or to declare bad in law for want of jurisdiction any result of the interview so declared by the respondent No. 2.;