Rajendra Nath Mittal, J. - (1.) Briefly, the case of the petitioner is that he is a Lecturer in the Department of Botany, Punjab University. Under S. 13 of the Punjab University Act, 1947 hereinafter referred to as the Act) there are 85 Ordinary Fellows to the Senate of the University, out of whom two Ordinary Fellows have to be elected by Readers and Lecturers on the staff of the Teaching Departments from amongst themselves, 8 by the Heads of affiliated Arts Colleges (Principals) from amongst them- services and 8 by the Protessors, Senior Lecturers and Lecturers of affiliated Arts Colleges from amongst themselves. The tenure of the office of the Ordinary Fellows is four years. The petitioner was elected as an Ordinary Fellow to the Senate in the election held in 1976. Mr. Jagmohan Singh respondent No. 3 was elected as such from amongst Lecturers of the affiliated Aits Colleges and respondent No. 4 from amongst Registered Graduates in the same year. Respondent No. 5 was nominated as Ordinary Fellow under Sec. 13(1)(j) of the Act.
(2.) The Syndicate consists of, apart from other members, 15 elected members from amongst Ordinary Fellows. Out of them, 3 members are elected by the Faculty of Arts from amongst the fellows assigned to the Faculty of Arts. Procedure for elections is given in the Regulations. In Regulation 1.3, it is provided that each Fellow is entitled to vote for as many candidate as there are syndics to be elected.
(3.) Respondent No. 3, who was Lecturer in Malwa College, Bondli (Semrala) had applied for being appointed as a Principal in the same college. He was selected by a duty constituted selection Committee of the said college which included a representative of the University. He was appointed as Principal of the college on probation for one year with effect from Dec. 1, 1978. On his appointment as such, the post of Lecturer fell vacant. Since he was appointed as Principal, it is alleged, he ceased to continue as an Ordinary Fellow, as he did not possess the requisite qualification on the basis of which he was elected as an Ordinary Fellow.;