(i) Setting aside the portion of Resolution 2.4 of the 214th
Meeting of the Board of Governors dtd. 01.03.2025,
headed by the Chairperson, Respondent - 3, at
Annexure-D, to the extend that it specifies / prescribes
the qualification and experience for the post of
Director of Institute for Social & Economic Change
with respect to petitioner.
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(ii) Setting aside the Advertisement bearing
No.AdvtNo.D/1/2025 dtd. 26.07.2025, at Annexure-G,
issued by the 2nd Respondent Registrar;
(b) Consequently, issue direction to the Respondents 2 &
3 to permit the Petitioner to apply for the post of
Director of ISEC, with his present qualification and
experience, in the interest of justice and equity;
(c) Pass any such order in favour of the Petitioner, in the
facts and circumstances of the case, if required by
moulding the reliefs, in the interest of justice and
equity."
2. Heard Sri. Vikram Phadke, learned counsel for the
petitioner, Sri. Spoorthy Hegde, learned AGA for respondent No.1
and Dr. Jose P. Varghese, learned Senior Counsel for Sri. Naveen
M.S., for respondent No.2 and perused the material on record.
3. Respondent No.3 having been served with the notice
of the petition, has chosen to remain unrepresented and has not
contested the petition.
4. In addition to reiterating the various contentions urged
in the petition and referring to the material on record, learned
counsel for the petitioner has invited my attention to the 214th
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Meeting of the Board of Governors of the respondent Nos.2 and 3
dated 01.03.2025 in order to point out that at Sl.No.2.4, the Board
of Governors (BOG) resolved to adopt the qualification criteria and
terms and conditions of the appointment of Director at par with the
Vice Chancellor of Karnataka, only with regard to minimum
qualification and experience as laid down vide Item No.ii of
"Selection of Vice - Chancellor of Karnatak University, Dharwad". It
is pointed out that the selection to the aforesaid post of Vice-
Chancellor of Karnatak University is notified vide Public Notice
dated 30.01.2025 which contemplates that a distinguished
Academician, with a minimum of 10 years experience as Professor
in a University or 10 years of experience in a reputed research
and/or academic administrative organization with proof of having
demonstrated academic leadership, would be entitled to be
selected to the post of the Director of the respondent Nos.2 and 3.
5. It is submitted that though the rules for selection of the
Vice-Chancellor of Karnatak University, Dharwad have been
expressly adopted by the Board of Governors of respondent Nos.2
and 3 by incorporating the said minimum qualification and
experience for appointment of the post of a Director of respondent
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No.2 and respondent No.3 also, the respondent Nos.2 and 3 have
issued the impugned notification calling for applications to the post
of Director by prescribing qualification and experience which are
not in conformity or consonance with the qualification and
experience provided for appointment to the post of a Vice-
Chancellor of Karnatak University, which has been expressly
adopted by the respondent Nos.2 and 3. It is also submitted that
except the minimum qualification and experience for appointment
of the post of the Director to respondent Nos.2 and 3, all other
procedures shall be governed by Rule 8 of the Memorandum of
Association and Rules and Regulations, which would not be
applicable to qualification and experience for appointment to the
post of the Director as per Rule 8 (4) of the said Rules and
Regulations of respondent Nos.2 and 3. It is also submitted that
while the said resolution was taken in the 214th meeting of the
Board of Governors on 01.03.2025, was passed by the entire
Board of Governors unanimously, the impugned advertisement
prescribing a different qualification and experience is issued only
by the Registrar, which is also not permissible in terms as per the
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Rules and Regulations and the impugned advertisement deserves
to be quashed.
6. Per contra, learned Senior Counsel for respondent
Nos.2 and 3 would invite my attention to Rule 8(4) in order to point
out that the said rule 8(4) provides for framing of service conditions
which have been determined by the Board of Governors and the
same has been confirmed subsequently by the Appellate Authority,
which reiterated the decision taken by the Board of Governors in its
214th meeting dated 01.03.2025 and approved by the President
and as such, there is no merit in the petition and the same is liable
to be dismissed.
7. I have given my anxious consideration to the
submissions made by the respective learned counsel and perused
the material on record.
8. Before adverting to the submissions of learned counsel
for the petitioner, it would be necessary to refer to Item No.2.4 of
Annexure-D, which reads as under:
"2.4 Constitution of Search Committee for the
appointment of New Director
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When the BoGstook up this agenda for discussion,
the Director volunteered to rescue himself so as to maintain
the sanctity of the procedure. He was allowed to do so by the
Chairman, and he walked out to be called back when the
next agenda was to be taken up. Further, the Chairman,
BOGs, requested both the Staff Representatives, as also the
Registrar I/c to leave the meeting during the consideration of
this item.
The BoGs resolved to advertise to fill up the position
of the Director following the superannuation of the incumbent
Director with effect from May 31, 2025 as per the UGC rules
pertaining to the appointment of Vice Chancellor in
Karnataka, as the position of Director ISEC is equivalent to
that of the former. The Board further resolved to bring the
terms & conditions of appointment of Director at par with that
of the Vice Chancellor of Karnataka, only with regard to the
minimum qualification and experience as laid down vide Item
No.ii of "Selection of Vice-Chancellor of Karnataka
University, Dharwad" enclosed as Annexure1. All other
procedures shall be as laid down vide Rule 8 (pages 12 and
13) of MoA and R & R."
9. It is also necessary to refer to Rule 8 of the Rules and
Regulations, which reads as under:
"8. Director
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i. The first Director of the Institute was
Dr.V.K.R.V.Rao who was primarily responsible for
the creation of the Institute. He held office for a
period of 5 years.
ii. The procedure for subsequent appointments of the
Director shall be as follows:
A Selection Committee shall be constituted by the
President consisting of two nominees of the Board
of Governors, other than those who are members
of the Board, one of whom shall be designated as
the Convenor, and a nominee of the President.
The Selection Committee shall prepare a panel of
not less than three persons, along with a detailed
report and submit the same to the President.
After considering the report of the Selection
Committee and calling for such further information,
as she/he may desire, the President shall make
the appointment out of the panel of names
submitted. When the panel of names submitted by
the Selection Committee gets exhausted, it shall
be open to the President to request the Selection
Committee to prepare and submit a fresh panel.
iii. The Director of the Institute shall be appointed for
a term of five years or up to her/his reaching the
age of 65 years whichever is earlier, but she/he
shall be eligible for appointment for a second term
subject to the above. (AGM, December 20, 2007).
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iv. The Director of the Institute shall be paid a
monthly salary equivalent to that of a Vice-
Chancellor of a University in Karnataka. The other
terms and conditions of her/his service shall be as
determined by the Board of Governors.
v. An incumbent Director shall continue in office for
up to six months if her/his successor is not
selected or joins in time. If the vacancy exceeds
six months, BOG shall have the authority to extend
the appointment by a further period of six months
(BOG, September 29, 2007)."
10. The State Government issued a Public Notice inviting
application for the selection of a Vice-Chancellor of Karnataka
University, Dharwad by issuing a Public Notice dated 30.01.2025,
which reads as under:
"A distinguished Academician, with a minimum of 10
years experience as Professor in a University or 10 years of
experience in a reputed research and/or academic
administrative organization with proof of having
demonstrated academic leadership."
11. A combined reading of the decision taken by the Board
of Governors at Sl.No.2.4, Rule 8 of the Rules and Regulations of
the respondent Nos.2 and 3 and the qualification and experience
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prescribed for selection of the Vice Chancellor of Karnatak
University, Dharwad, by the State Government in its Public Notice
dated 30.01.2025 is sufficient to come to the conclusion that the
minimum qualification and experience for appointment of a person
to the post of a Director to the respondent Nos.2 and 3 would be a
distinguished Academician, with a minimum of 10 years experience
as Professor in a University or 10 years of experience in a reputed
research and/or academic administrative organization with proof of
having demonstrated academic leadership. However, when this
minimum qualification and experience is contrasted with the
qualification and experience prescribed in the impugned
advertisement inviting applications for the post of a Director of
respondent Nos.2 and 3 vide Annexure-G dated 26.07.2025, will
indicate that the same is contrary and not in conformity or in
consonance with the requirements mentioned above, as can be
seen from Sl.No.1(ii), which reads as under:
"(ii) An outstanding academic or researcher or academic-
cum-researcher with a minimum of ten (10) yeas of
experience as Professor or Researcher or Professor-
cum-Researcher or an equivalent, but in every case
equivalent to a professor in a university as per UGC
norms in a reputed academic/research/administrative
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organization with proof of having demonstrated
qualities of leadership."
12. It is an undisputed fact that it was a Board of
Governors in its 214th meeting dated 01.03.2025, which decided to
adopt the Rules and Regulations of the Karnatak University, Item 2
as indicated above, for the purpose of appointment to the post of a
Vice-Chancellor, which would be applicable to the appointment to
the post of the Director of respondent Nos.2 and 3. However, the
impugned application for appointment to the post of the Director
has been issued by the Registrar without being preceded by any
change in the aforesaid resolution or by any other resolution
passed by the Board of Governors, which permitted the said
Registrar from prescribing a different qualification or experience. In
fact, the respondents themselves have produced the minutes of the
11th Special General Body Meeting of the respondent Nos.2 and 3
dated 29.07.2025, which actually reiterates, confirms and affirms
the decision taken by the Board of Governors in its 214th meeting
dated 01.03.2025.
13. Under these circumstances, I am of the considered
opinion that the impugned advertisement at Sl.No.1(2) to the extent
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of the same prescribing qualification and experience for
appointment to the post of the Director of respondent Nos.2 and 3
deserves to be quashed and the same be substituted with the
qualification and experience prescribed for the Karnatak University
as stated supra.
14. Insofar as the contention of the learned Senior
Counsel for respondents 2 and 3 that Rule 8 would apply insofar as
appointment to the post of the Director of respondent Nos.2 and 3
is concerned, a plain reading of the aforesaid provision is sufficient
to come to the conclusion that the said Rules do not provide for
minimum qualification or experience and Rule 8(4) specifically
provides that terms and conditions of the service shall be
determined by the Board of Governors; apart from the fact that the
Rule 8 would apply only to a person to the service conditions of the
petitioner to a person after being appointed, the Rule 8.4 also
clearly makes it clear that the determination of other terms and
conditions of the service to the post of a Director shall be
determined by the Board of Governors and in the light of such
decision already having been taken by the Board of Governors in
its 214th meeting dated 01.03.2025, prescribing minimum
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qualification and experience as per Rule 1.2 governing
appointment to the post of the Vice-Chancellor, the said contention
urged by the learned Senior Counsel for the respondent Nos. 2 and
3 cannot be accepted.
15. In the result, I pass the following:
ORDER
i) The petition is hereby allowed.
ii) The impugned advertisement dated 26.07.2025 at
Annexure-G is hereby quashed.
iii) The respondent Nos.2 and 3 are directed to issue a
fresh advertisement calling for application to the post of Director in
conformity with item No.ii of Public Notice dated 30.01.2025 in
accordance with law.
Sd/-
(S.R.KRISHNA KUMAR)
JUDGE
MDS
List No.: 1 Sl No.: 36
