Madurai: Court cannot lay down standards, as to who is to teach what subject; it’s for colleges to assess the teachers, Madras high court observed while denying relief on a plea seeking to ensure that guest lecturers having requisite law qualification are appointed to teach law subjects in B Com and BBA departments in all arts and science colleges across the state.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by T Muthukrishnan. The petitioner stated that only those who have a specialised qualification in law should be permitted to teach the students in law subjects in those courses.
A division bench of Justice C V Karthikeyan and Justice R Sakthivel observed, “We are confident that each college will assess the teachers, who are appointed to teach the students with their knowledge of the particular subject in which they are engaged to teach the students. We are also confident that the universities would also act as checks and balances on the colleges to ensure that those with sufficient knowledge of the subjects which they have to teach the students have qualified in those subjects.”
The judges observed that the court cannot sit in a judgment over the qualifications, over the knowledge and skills available in a particular teacher. It is sufficient to point out that graduate in B Com would have undergone a subject in mercantile law and if he is otherwise eligible with the acquisition of subsequent degrees of postgraduate degrees to teach students in colleges, the knowledge of that particular subject in mercantile law would enable him to further impart knowledge to young B Com graduates.
It is not necessary that a fully qualified law graduate alone could impart that particular subject knowledge in that particular subject, the judges observed and disposed of the petition.
