Jagjit Singh vs Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited

Mahesh Grover, J.—The petitioner has invoked the jurisdiction of this Court with a prayer that a writ in the nature of mandamus be issued directing the respondent to treat him eligible and permit him to appear in the written test even though he does not fulfil the eligibility criteria prescribed in the advertisement. He further prays that the condition (with 60% or above marks from recognized institution) as contained in the advertisement be quashed. The post in question which the petitioner aspires for is of Assistant Engineer and in order to fill the same the respondent has issued an advertisement by prescribing the eligibility conditions as under:-

Full Time regular BE/B.Tech./B.Sc. Engineering in Electrical Engineering with a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent degree recognized by AICTE or AMIE in electrical Engineering with 60% marks from Institution of Engineers (India) Calcutta.

It is not the case of the petitioner that these qualifications are one which are not prescribed in the rules but he says that in so far as the cases of Scheduled Castes are concerned, the same should be relaxed and the prescription of having Electrical Engineering with a minimum of 60% marks from Institution of Engineers (India) Calcutta or any other recognized institution or AMIE be done away with in order to enable the petitioner to seek participation in the process.

Learned counsel for the petitioner contends that as a normal practice the marks prescribed in the general category are relaxed in the cases of reserved category candidates and that there have been policies to that effect consistently one of which has been noticed and interpreted by this Court in CWP No. 3468 of 1998, decided on 30.11.1998.

After hearing the learned counsel for the petitioner, I am of the opinion that the instant petition is totally misconceived. The respondent as an employer has prescribed the eligibility conditions as per the rules and regulations and, therefore, cannot be mandated to change such prescription unless the rules and regulations provide for it. The judgment of this court in Dr. Mukesh Kumar''s case relied upon by the learned counsel for the petitioner is of no consequence to the cause of the petitioner as in that case the plea agitated before this Court was that persons belonging to the reserved category were less in number compared to the posts prescribed for them and therefore the court observed that they need not be subjected to the screening process. For the aforesaid reasons when the petitioner has been unable to show that he is entitled to relaxation of the eligibility conditions as a matter of right under the law, I am of the opinion that the writ petition is without any merit and is, therefore deserves to be dismissed. Ordered accordingly.