A division bench of the Delhi High Court recently dismissed an appeal challenging the appointment of Professor Sanjay Dwivedi as the Director General (DG) of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, according to media reports.

"...unlike medicine or law, pursuing a career in journalism does not require possessing a specific qualification as such," the bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad observed.

In July 2020, Sanjay Dwivedi was appointed the DG of IIMC but the appointment was challenged by Ashutosh Mishra who argued that Dwivedi was not qualified for the post, that he did not possess the necessary qualification and also had the allegations of criminal cases pending against him.

In November 2022, the single-judge bench dismissed his plea.

Mishra's appeal further argues that Dwivedi did not possess the requisite work experience. He further argued that apart from a Master's degree, minimum 25 years of experience in the field of journalism or film or media with administrative experience of holding senior positions in professional institutions of national repute, according to media reports.

Mishra has also questioned Dwivedi's world experince as a sub editor claiming that he only had 23 years of experience instead of 23. While working as a sub editor, he was a student of Bachelor of Journalism and Mass Communication (BJMC) as well as Master of Journalism and Mass Communication (MJMC).

The division bench stated that the judgement of the single-judge noted that the advertisement does not clearly say whether the work experience was required for the job role can only be calculated after attaining a Master’s degree, according to media reports.

“The learned Single Judge has correctly observed that the requirement of holding a Master’s degree is disjunctive to the 25 years of experience that is stated in the advertisement, and the work experience of Respondent No.3 (Dwivedi) can be calculated before he completed his Master’s degree," the division bench noted, according to media reports.

After reading Dwivedi's biodara as well as IIMC's advertisement dated June 13, 2019, the Court found that his appointment was not in violation of the prescribed rules.

"Flowing from the judgements above as well as the educational qualifications/experience of Respondent No.3, this Court is of the opinion that the Appellant has failed to satisfactorily discharge the burden imposed on them that would warrant the interference of this Court by way of issuance of a writ of quo warranto. The observations of the learned Single Judge in the impugned Judgement dated 06.11.2020 are in consonance with the judicial precedents established in similar matters, and the appointment of Respondent No.3 is in accordance with the Recruitment Rules and the advertisement dated 13.06.2019 issued by IIMC," says the Court.

Hence, Mishra's appeal was dismissed.