In a significant judgment, the Patna High Court has provided crucial relief to academic job aspirants in Bihar, stating that a technically qualified candidate cannot be denied a university teaching position merely due to a signature discrepancy on an experience certificate.
Court's Verdict on Technical Rejection
The ruling was delivered by a single bench of Justice Harish Kumar on December 15, with the detailed order becoming publicly available on Wednesday evening. The court was hearing a writ petition filed by one Kumar Brajesh, who had been denied the post of assistant professor in physics despite having the requisite qualifications and experience.
The core issue revolved around appointments to the position of assistant professor (physics) in various state universities under the purview of the Bihar State University Services Commission. The petitioner, Brajesh, possessed teaching experience from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur.
The Signature Controversy
However, the Commission rejected his candidature outright. The sole ground for rejection was that his experience certificate from IIT Kanpur carried the signature of the Joint Registrar (Research and Development) instead of the Registrar, as explicitly stipulated in the recruitment advertisement.
Arguing the case for Brajesh, Senior Advocate Anand Kumar Ojha contended that the Commission's decision reflected a lack of proper application of mind. He emphasized that IITs are statutory bodies established under the IIT Act and operate with their own distinct hierarchical administrative structure. In such institutes, various authorized officers, not necessarily the Registrar alone, are empowered to issue valid certificates.
Justice Kumar's Key Observations
Accepting the petitioner's arguments, Justice Harish Kumar made a profound observation, noting that "reasoning is the essence of rule of law." The court found merit in the submission that the Commission failed to appreciate the fundamental difference between the administrative setup of an IIT and a conventional university.
The bench held that rejecting a candidate with genuine experience from a premier institution like an IIT on such a hyper-technical signature requirement was unjust. The certificate in question was issued by an authorized signatory of the institution, making it substantively valid.
Directive for Reconsideration
Consequently, the Patna High Court allowed the writ petition. It directed the Bihar State University Services Commission to reconsider the appointment of Kumar Brajesh against any existing vacancies in his relevant category. The judgment underscores that the spirit of the rule and the candidate's actual merit should outweigh a rigid, literal interpretation of procedural formalities.
This ruling is expected to set a precedent for similar cases where candidates from autonomous institutions like IITs, IISERs, or national laboratories face rejection from state university recruitment processes due to differences in administrative nomenclature and signing authority.
