Deepali Kalia –
The Kerala High Court stayed a single bench judgment which revoked Kerala University’s recruitment notification due to the reason that it regarded the professors of different departments as one unit for the purpose of reservations.
The judgment rendered by a single bench of Justice Amit Rawal on March 31 was stayed by a division bench comprising of Justices A Muhamed Mustaque and Dr Kauser Edappagath on the grounds that the judgment would have “far-reaching consequences” on the appointments already made.
The stay order was passed in the writ appeals filed by the State of Kerala and the University of Kerala.
The stay order has been granted for 3 months and the matter has been listed for hearing on July 12th.
It was submitted by Advocate General K Gopalakrishna Kurup before the court that the single bench judgment is contrary to various precedents laid down by the Apex court.
Justice Mustaque, also orally stated that if the posts are not treated as one unit then the application of reservation will become difficult.
It was held by the single bench that each post in a particular discipline should be treated as a single post and reservations must be made subject wise.
Consequently, stating that it would amount to giving 100 per cent reservation, the recruitment notification was quashed by the single bench.