Hyderabad: In a relief to English and Foreign Languages University (Eflu), the Telangana High Court on Tuesday gave a green signal to complete the process of recruitment of professors, associate professors and assistant professors in various departments vide notifications issued in 2019 and 2020. The process has been withheld since February 2021 due to the orders of National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), on the grounds that the university was not providing the declared quota for backward classes in the appointment of teaching staff.
The court made it clear that the orders issued by the NCBC on February 2 and 5 with regard to recruitment to various posts being carried out by Eflu were not within its jurisdiction and were apt to be set aside.
A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice M.S. Ramachandra Rao and Justice T. Vinod Kumar on Tuesday pronounced the judgement in a petition filed by the Eflu, aggrieved by the orders of the NCBC.
The university sought a relief from the High Court to declare Rule 3.2.7 of the Rules of Procedure of the NCBC framed on January 23, 2020, as ultra vires, as per Article 338-B of the Constitution of India, and to quash or set aside the same by declaring it as unconstitutional.
The NCBC issued injunction orders to the university to withhold the recruitment process based on the complaint of senior Congress party leader Dasoju Sravan Kumar, who complained that the Eflu was not adhering to the reservation meant for Other Backward Classes while conducting recruitments for teaching posts.
Eflu contended that the NCBC had been constituted under Article 338-B of the Constitution of India with power to ‘investigate, monitor and report’ matters relating to the safeguards provided for socially and educationally backward classes and the role envisaged was advisory only. “It cannot pass any injunction or prohibition orders like civil court,” it said.
After perusing several judgments of the Supreme Court, the division bench held that the NCBC was not conferred with any power under Article 338B of the Constitution to grant orders in the nature of injunctions, temporary or permanent, prohibitory or mandatory, put on hold or stop orders of any nature.
However, the High Court said it did not want to opine on the question whether Eflu had properly provided reservation to the Other Backward Classes in the process of recruitment and it was left open for consideration in an appropriate proceeding already initiated or to be initiated by the aggrieved parties.
