Mrinmoy Bharati v. Union Of India & ORS

WPA 4971 of 2020 24-08-2022 Mrinmoy Bharati Vs.

The Union of India & Ors.

AKG Ct. 21 Mr. Krishnendu Sarkar, Mr. Abhijit Mondal, Ms. Meghla Das ...For the Petitioner Mr. N. C. Bihani, Mrs. P. B. Bihani, Ms. K. Singh ...For Burdwan University Ms. Oishani Mukherjee, ...For Union of India Mr. Anil Kr. Gupta ...For U.G.C.

The petitioner had enrolled himself as a Ph.D Research Scholar in the Department of History, Jadavpur University and he was selected for the award of National Fellowship for the year 2017-2018, on the recommendation of the Expert Committee with effect from April 01, 2017. The said fellowship, however, was cancelled by the University Grant Commission following a decision taken in a meeting held on April 02, 2018. The said decision was communicated to the petitioner by an electronic mail dated May 02, 2018. The petitioner has challenged the said decision dated April 02, 2018, on the ground that without any valid reason, the fellowship awarded to the petitioner has been cancelled.

The affidavit filed by the University Grant Commission suggests that the petitioner did not have the requisite cut off percentage for the fellowship. The

said fact was detected subsequently. The cut-off marks of Humanities & Social Sciences in West Bengal was 64.70 for a male candidate, whereas the petitioner's post graduate percentage was 52.44. Therefore, his selection was cancelled by the Anomaly Committee in a meeting held on April 02, 2018. Though it has been suggested by the learned advocate for the petitioner that the fellowship granted to the petitioner has been cancelled following a revised policy which came into being after the fellowship was granted to the petitioner, it appears that as per existing applicable policy of fellowship programme for the year 2017-2018, the petitioner was not a qualified candidate and the same was detected subsequently by the Anomaly Committee. In the facts and circumstances of the case, no exception could be taken to the decision of University Grant Commission in cancelling the fellowship granted to the petitioner. The University Grant Commission was competent to rectify its mistake.

In that view of the matter, I do not find any merit in this writ petition.

Accordingly, WPA 4971 of 2020 is dismissed.

Let urgent photostat certified copies of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance with all the necessary formalities.

(Kausik Chanda, J.)