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The Madras High Court has upheld the UGC regulations stipulating that a pass in National Eligibility Test/State-Level Eligibility Test (NET/SLET) is mandatory

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has upheld the UGC regulations stipulating that a pass in National Eligibility Test/State-Level Eligibility Test (NET/SLET) is mandatory for appointment to the post of assistant professors in colleges in the State.
Merely because the petitioners did not have the qualifications, the same could not be a ground for either to attack the selection made by Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) or the UGC regulations on the ground that it was unreasonable or causing hardships to candidates not in possession of the NET/SLET qualifications,Justice K Chandru has observed.
The judge was dismissing a batch of about 15 writ petitions seeking to declare the UGC (Minimum Qualifications Required for Appointment of Career Advancement of Teachers in Universities and Institutions Affiliated to it) Regulations, 2009, notified on July 11, 2009, as arbitrary and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution, in so far as it fixed NET/SLET as the minimum qualification for lecturers/assistant professors post without giving the special exemption for the candidates who had got their M.Phil degrees prior to December 31, 1993.
According to petitioners, as per the earlier UGC regulations, the candidates who had obtained M.Phil degrees before December 31, 1993, were exempted from writing NET/SLET examination. The sudden introduction would deprive of their chance of getting considered for the post of assistant professors/lecturers, they contended.
Dismissing the petitions, Justice Chandru observed that the power of the UGC had been exercised in terms of Sec. 26(1)(e) and (g), read with Sec. 14 of the UGC Act. It must be noted that it was not as if the UGC did not have any materials for introducing such qualifications. The Centre had appointed Professor G K Chadha Committee, which had recommended strict implementation of the UGC regulations. The committee’s report was forwarded to all State governments and various universities.
It was pursuant to the directive of the UGC, the State government also appointed an official committee for introducing the scales of pay as well as qualifications for recruitment for teachers by a GO dated February 25, 2009. Pursuant to the recommendation of the official committee, the government had issued a GO in this connection on September 9, 2009. The State government before calling for candidates for the TN Collegiate Education Services, had kept in mind the current UGC regulations and also had given appropriate marks for candidates, who were in possession of higher experience and qualifications, the judge pointed out.

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