Ensure clarity in future adverts for lecturer posts: Allahabad HC to AMU

The court passed the order while dealing with a dispute over whether candidates with an M.Sc. in industrial chemistry should be considered eligible for chemistry lecturer’s post at AMU

The Allahabad high court has directed the registrar of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) to be cautious and precise in its future advertisements for the posts of lecturer, ensuring that no ambiguity surrounds the eligibility criteria.

The issue arose after the AMU issued advertisements in 2019 and 2020 for the lecturer (chemistry) post that mentioned that candidates with a master’s degree in a “concerned/relevant/allied subject” would be eligible for the said post. (For Representation)

The court passed the order on March 12 while dealing with a dispute over whether candidates with an M.Sc. in industrial chemistry should be considered eligible for chemistry lecturer’s post at AMU.

The issue arose after the AMU issued advertisements in 2019 and 2020 for the lecturer (chemistry) post that mentioned that candidates with a master’s degree in a “concerned/relevant/allied subject” would be eligible for the said post.

The petitioners---Amma Khatoon, Dr Mohd Azfar Shaida and Dr Syed Md Humayun Akhtar--moved the high court seeking to participate in a selection process arguing that use of terms like “concerned/relevant/allied subject” in the advertisement was ambiguous as it created confusion over whether candidates with an M.Sc. in industrial chemistry (as was the case with the petitioners) would qualify or not.

The counsel for the petitioners argued that their clients qualified as an “allied subject” and they would be eligible for the post advertised by the AMU. In view of the above apparently contradictory actions of the university, he contended that such move caused more prejudice to petitioners and both decisions were not only self-contrary but also arbitrary.

Disposing of the petitions, Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamshery observed, “Such ambiguity should be removed i.e. words shall be chosen carefully and instead of ambiguous words “concerned/relevant/allied subject”, the University must specifically mention about qualification so that all eligible candidates may participate in advertisement and no one be left prejudiced.”