Allahabad High Court restores Lucknow University professor appointments

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has overturned the Chancellor's order to cancel the appointments of two associate professors at Lucknow University. The court ruled in favor of Dr. Himanshu Mohan and Dr. Sangeeta Sahu, who were appointed to the Department of Business Administration within the Faculty of Commerce.

The appointments had been revoked in November 2017 following a complaint, based on the grounds that the candidates failed to provide documentation proving they had supervised research scholars and doctoral students. However, the court bench, comprising Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai, determined that specific eligibility criteria for Management and Business Administration subjects take precedence over general eligibility rules.

The court noted that the university had incorporated the University Grants Commission (UGC) 2010 regulations into its statutes. It ruled that because the selection committee made the appointments based on these specific provisions without requesting additional documentation, the inability to produce certain documents could not render the selection illegal. The court concluded that the Chancellor's order was based on a misinterpretation of law and facts, and directed that the professors be granted all associated benefits.