Kerala HC Strikes Down UGC Criteria Giving Relaxation To Reserved Categories For Qualifying NET [Read Judgment]

A stipulation in the UGC criteria for National Eligibility Test, has been struck down as unconstitutional by the High Court of Kerala, observing that it would infringe the fundamental right to equal opportunity granted to ‘General’ category candidates.The UGC mandated stipulation for obtaining minimum marks by the candidates to the NET mandated stipulation for obtaining minimum marks by the candidates to the NET. Justice P.B.Suresh Kumar opined: “When more than 50% of the vacancies in the post of Assistant Professor in Universities and Colleges are open vacancies and when NET qualification is mandatory for staking a claim for selection in the said vacancies, a criterion which is likely to eliminate more than 50% of the candidates from general category from acquiring the NET qualification cannot be said to be a valid one, especially when they, or at least a substantial number among them, are more meritorious than the candidates who are NET qualified from the reserved categories. For the aforesaid reasons, I have no hesitation to hold that the impugned criteria would infringe the fundamental right to equal opportunity guaranteed to the candidates belonging to the general category under Article 16 of the Constitution and hence unconstitutional.” The court even though observed that minimum marks could be prescribed for candidates from reserved categories,it held that such provision should not hamper the chances of candidates from general category. The court observed:-“While it is the Constitutional obligation of the instrumentalities of the State to ensure that sufficient number of candidates are NET qualified from reserved categories to stake claim for appointment against the seats reserved for them, the instrumentalities of the State are equally obliged to ensure that the provision made for protecting the rights of reserved categories does not affect the sufficiency of the candidates from general category to stake claim for appointment against open vacancies.