Bhopal: 15 Years On, HC Quashes Appointment Of Readers At MCU

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The High Court, principal bench of Jabalpur, on Thursday, quashed the appointment of Sanjay Dwivedi and Pavitra Srivastava as readers at Makhanlal Chaturvedi Patrakarita University, Bhopal, in 2009. Both had been elevated to professor in CAS (Career Advancement Scheme) and Sanjay Dwivedi was given the charge of vice-chancellor too for some time.

Dwivedi’s basic appointment as reader was quashed after 15 years of service and the same was the case with Srivastava. Justice Vivek Agrawal passed the order. The HC observed that the norms of formation of selection committee were not followed as per the University's Act and the Head of the Department of Mass Communication and Public Relations and Advertising were not included in the selection committee/interview panel, which was mandatory.

According to the order, Dwivedi has though mentioned about experience at Nav Bharat, Mumbai as sub-editor from May 1, 1998 to May 30, 2001, but he only produced the appointment order and confirmation order dated May 1, 1998 and has not produced any experience certificate of having worked from May 1, 1998 to May 30, 2001 at Nav Bharat, Mumbai, and if this period is excluded, then he cannot be said to have completed 10 years of actual experience if the experience is computed from the date of attaining the minimum prescribed qualifications of post graduation in Journalism and Mass Communication which was obtained on December 21, 1996, then starting from December 21, 1996 and excluding the period at Nav Bharat, Mumbai, he will not be completing 10 years of experience.

The eligibility criteria is that a person should have PhD in Communication/Mass Communication/Journalism from an Indian university or an equivalent degree from a foreign university or published work of doctoral standard or media production work of excellence. It also prescribes eight years experience of teaching and or research including up to three years for research degree and having made a mark in the area of scholarship as evidenced by quality of publications, contribution to education, innovation, design of new courses and curricula.