TAR Catania annuls botany researcher competition commission

The Second Section of the TAR Sicilia in Catania has once again annulled the examining commission for a botany researcher competition that has been ongoing since 2010. The ruling, issued on August 10, 2026, follows a long-standing legal battle involving multiple appeals and judgments between the administrative court and the Council of Administrative Justice for the Sicilian Region (C.G.A.R.S.).

The dispute centers on how the commission was formed. The court ruled that the commission must strictly follow the regulations in place when the competition was first announced, which required drawing external commissioners from a specific list of ordinary professors in the BIO/03 sector. However, the University of Catania and the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) had instead used lists from the National Scientific Qualification (ASN) that included related but different sectors, citing technical difficulties in reactivating a decommissioned ministerial platform.

The judges rejected these justifications, stating that regulatory changes or technical issues cannot override previous irrevocable judgments. Consequently, the TAR declared the administrative acts null and void. The University of Catania and the Ministry are now required to restart and align the procedure with previous merit judgments within a strict deadline.