Delhi HC Rejects Plea Challenging Selection Of Vice-Chancellor Of NLU Delhi

The Single Bench of Justice Jyoti Singh dismissed the plea by noting that there's no violation of Article 14 in the procedure adopted by the Selection Committee.

Moved by Dr Prasannanshu, who's one of the applicants for the said post, the petition argues that the procedure adopted by the Selection Committee violates Article 14 of the Constitution as it is arbitrary and creates artificial differentiation.

On October 11, 2019, a notification was issued by the convener of the Selection Committee of the National Law University, Delhi inviting nominations for the post of Vice-Chancellor, National Law University, Delhi (NLUD) along with the minimum eligibility criteria.

On February 05, 2020, the said Selection Committee held a meeting and decided to call all the applicants for an interview on February 25.

The Petitioner is aggrieved by the fact that despite meeting the minimum eligibility criteria, he neither received any communication to be present in this interaction meeting nor did he get any letter/communication highlighting any grounds or reasons for rejection of his candidature.

The Petitioner has argued that:

'That the Petitioner was not called, despite fulfilling the minimum eligibility criteria, by the Selection committee whereby other candidates were duly called for the said post and hence the petitioner was not treated at par with the other candidates. Therefore, the fundamental right of right to quality of the Petitioner was violated which is enshrined under Article 14.'

It is further submitted by the Petitioner that he had also moved a representation before the Chancellor of NLU Delhi but received no response.

The Petitioner has therefore alleged that the Selection Committee has adopted an arbitrary and discriminatory procedure with regards to his candidature.