Allahabad high court stays order nixing PhD interview results

ALLAHABAD: The Allahabad high court has set aside the decision of a five-member committee of the Allahabad University to cancel the result of interviews conducted for admission to the Ph.D course.
Disposing of a writ petition filed by one Amit Kumar and 34 others, Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra directed that AU authorities to proceed in accordance with the law. “If authorities find any compelling reasons to cancel the process, the least that is expected of them is to indicate the reasons in the order and give an opportunity of hearing to the parties concerned,” the court said.
AU’s decision was challenged on the ground that no reasons were assigned for cancelling the interview results. The petitioners contended that the university had no jurisdiction to pass such an “arbitrary” order. However, AU counsel contended that a committee of all four deans of AU examined the process of admission to Ph.D course and decided to conduct fresh interviews.
Setting aside the AU order dated January 31, 2020, the court observed, “The minutes placed on record contain no reasons as to why the process of interview is being cancelled. Certain arguments in support of the decision is sought to be placed before the court by the AU’s counsel, but the court finds that no such material is reflected in the deliberation contained in the minutes of the meeting. It is, otherwise, not shown that this meeting has been held with reference to any specific provision contained in the statute of the university. In such circumstances, the decision taken by the university to cancel the interview for admission to the Ph.D course is not found to be sustainable, particularly as no reasons are contained therein.”