HC declares as illegal certain qualifications prescribed for appointment of Asst. Prof in law colleges

chennai: the madras high court on thursday declared as illegal, the qualifications viz. m l degree and enrollment as advocate, in addition to the postgraduate degree in the relevant subject, for appointment to the post of assistant professors for pre law course in the government law colleges in tamil nadu.   it held that the same suffered from patent irrationality, unreasonableness and arbitrariness.a division bench of justices n kirubakaran and v parthiban gave the ruling while passing final orders on a batch of writ petitions challenging the notifications issued by the teacher recruitment board (trb) in july 2018 for appointment as assistant professors and direct it to issue revised notification in respect of educational qualification for the post and permit the petitioners to participate in the selection process of direct recruitment of assistant professors [pre law] in government law colleges for 2017-2018.the bench said the disputed qualifications are in effect inconsistent with the legal education rules, 2008 which had been framed by the bar council of india in terms of the powers of the advocates act, 1961. the bench also declared as ineligible the candidates who had obtained their masters degree through distance education mode or by correspondence for appointment as assistant professors (pre law) and so also the candidates with cross major degrees. the bench, however, made it clear that appointment of candidates, if any, already made, pursuant to the impugned notifications of the years 2014 and 2017-2018, shall not be affected by this ruling.the bench directed the government authorities to revisit the entire eligibility criteria for appointment to the post of assistant professor or any other post in the teaching faculty in respect of the government law colleges in tamil nadu. they shall conform to the minimum standards fixed by the bci and expedite the process of recruitment, to avoid any academic dislocation, the bench added.