Distance edu PG not enough to teach pre-law courses: HC

Distance edu PG not enough to teach pre-law courses: HC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:21.08.2021

Candidates who obtained post-graduate degree through distance education or correspondence, and those with cross major degrees, are ineligible for appointment as assistant professor for pre-law courses in government law colleges, the Madras high court has ruled.

“Any recruitment to a post of teaching faculty in higher education is not intended to provide job opportunities to the potential candidates, but towards fulfilment of achieving higher academic standards. Although the court is conscious of the fact that distance education has become a social imperative considering the lack of education to vast majority of disadvantaged class, in the larger interest of institutional growth, the degrees obtained through distance education and correspondence cannot be considered as valid degree for appointments,” said a division bench of Justice V Parthiban and Justice N Kirubakaran (since retired).

The judges also directed the state authorities to revisit the entire criteria for appointment to the post of assistant professor or any other post in the teaching faculty in government law colleges in the state.

The notification stated that candidates would be eligible for the post only if they had a masters degree in law with not less than 55% of marks and if they had enrolled as an advocate in the Bar Council. A similar notification was also issued in 2014. These qualifications were prescribed apart from the main qualifications – PG degree in the subject concerned from the universities in Tamil Nadu with not less than 55% of marks and passing the National Eligibility Test (NET).

“The state authorities are to conform to the minimum standards set by the Bar Council of India and expedite the process of recruitment,” the bench said and disposed of a batch of petitions.

The court also ruled that notifications mandating that candidates must have enrolled as advocate and possess a master’s degree in law (ML degree) to be qualified for appointment as assistant professors for pre-law courses in government law colleges are irrational and illegal. The court, however, added that any appointments already made pursuant to the 2014 and 2018 notifications would not be affected by the ruling.

The court was referring to a notification issued in July 2018 by the Teachers Recruitment Board for the recruitment of assistant professors (pre-law) in government law colleges in Tamil Nadu for the year 2017-18.