Kajal vs State of Haryana and Others

Augustine George Masih, J.—Petitioner has approached this Court impugning the action of the respondents in not interviewing the petitioner for the post of Post Graduate Teacher (Biology) on the ground that she does not possess the Post Graduation Degree in Life Sciences although she possesses the Post Graduation in Food Processing Technology, which falls under the Faculty of Life Sciences and in support of that, reliance has-been placed upon a communication dated 06.08.2012 (Annexure P-10). Petitioner, in pursuance to the Advertisement No. 1/2012, applied for the Dost of Post Graduate Teacher (Biology) under Category No. 22. Her candidature was rejected on the ground that she did not possess the requisite qualifications for the post. Petitioner sought information from the Maharishi Dayanand University, Rohtak as to whether the qualification of Masters in Science (Food Processing Technology) would fall in the Life Sciences or not? In response whereof, it was stated that it falls under the Faculty of Life Sciences as per Statute-27 of the University Act, which deals with "Assignment for Departments to the Faculties". Armed with this information, petitioner has approached this Court by filing the present writ petition asserting that she is eligible for consideration for appointment to the post in question as one of the Postgraduate Degrees mentioned in the advertisement issued include Life Sciences and the petitioner possessing the said degree, is entitled to be considered for appointment to the post.

In response to the writ petition, it is the stand of the respondents that the qualifications, as mentioned in the advertisement, are as per the Statutory Rules governing the service. There are specified Post Graduation Degrees, which have been treated to be eligible for consideration for appointment to the post of Post Graduate Teacher and since the degree possessed by the petitioner does not find mention under the Statutory Rules, which was a part of the advertisement, the candidature of the petitioner has rightly been rejected.

Counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance upon the Division Bench judgment of this Court in CWP No. 13125 of 2012 titled as Babli v. State of Haryana and others, decided on 04.12.2012, where a similar issue with regard to the eligibility for appointment to the post of a Post Graduate Teacher (Biology) was under consideration and the Court proceeded to dilate upon the Post Graduation Degree in ''Life Sciences'' and came to a conclusion that 16 courses conducted by the various universities of the State of Haryana by the Faculty of Life Sciences would fall within the term ''M.Sc. Life Science''. Since M.Sc. Food Technology finds mention as one of the degrees out of these 16 courses, petitioner is eligible to be considered for appointment to the said post. He, accordingly, contends that the writ petition deserves to be allowed and a direction be issued to the respondents to consider the petitioner eligible for appointment and the result of the petitioner be accordingly declared.

On the other hand, counsel for the State places reliance upon the judgment passed by this Court in CWP No. 21163 of 2012 titled as Nitesh and others v. State of Haryana and others, decided on 19.05.2014, wherein placing reliance upon the judgment passed by a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in CWP No. 14939 of 2011 titled as Rakesh and others v. State of Haryana and others, decided on 09.10.2013 as also in CWP No. 19263 of 2012 titled as Vikas Sharma v. State of Haryana and others, decided on 22.01.2014, pertaining to the same issue stand dismissed. Reliance has also been placed upon the judgment passed by another Co-ordinate Bench in CWP No. 12682 of 2012 titled as Roop Chand v. State of Haryana and others, decided on 11.07.2013, where writ petitions were dismissed on the ground that the equivalence of qualifications cannot be gone into by the Court, if such an aspect has not been mentioned in the Rules governing the service. Counsel for the State has further asserted that the 16 courses, as have been referred to in Babli''s case (supra), on which reliance has been placed upon the counsel for the petitioner, do not include the degree, which is possessed by the petitioner and, therefore, no benefit can be granted to the petitioner on the basis of the said judgment.

In response to this assertion of the counsel for the State, counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance upon the orders passed by the Division Bench of this Court in CWP No. 21488 of 2012 titled as Ravi Kumar v. State of Haryana and others, decided on 11.12.2012, where on the basis of the certificate issued by the Delhi University, the M.Sc. Bio-Science, which was covered by the Faculty of Life Sciences as per the certificate issued by the Delhi University, was treated to be one of the Postgraduate Degree entitling the candidate to be treated as eligible for appointment to the post of Post-Graduate Teacher (Biology). Reference has also been made to the order passed by the Division Bench in CWP No. 21461 of 2012 titled as Harjinder Kaur v. The State of Haryana and others, decided on 11.12.2012, where on the basis of the certificate, which was issued by the University, M.Sc. Human Biology being covered by the Faculty of Life Sciences was treated to be a degree, which was to be treated as an eligible qualification possessed by a candidate for appointment to the post in question. He, on this basis, contends that the degree, which has been issued by the Faculty of Life Sciences, would be included in the term ''Post-Graduation in Life Sciences'', entitling the candidate for consideration for appointment to the post.

I have considered the submissions made by the counsel for the parties and with their assistance, have gone through the records of the case.

The facts, as have been narrated above, indicate that the Statutory Rules provide for the qualification for the post of Post-Graduate Teacher (Biology), which has been reflected in the advertisement dated 06.06.2012 (Annexure P-1), which reads as follows:--

A perusal of the above would show that apart from specified M.Sc. Degrees in various subjects, ''Life Science'' is also mentioned as one of the degrees, which would entitle a candidate to be considered for appointment to the post in question. It is admitted that no university conducts a course which would confer a post graduate degree. This aspect with regard to the degree in Life Science, its ambit and scope has been considered by the Division Bench of this Court in Babli''s case (supra) where the Division Bench, after referring to the arguments which were addressed and the pleadings on the record, concluded that the 16 M.Sc. Courses being run by the Universities of the State of Haryana conducted by their respective Facilities of Life Sciences would stand covered by the term ''M.Sc. Life Science'' and the candidates, who had done one or other of the mentioned M.Sc. Courses, would be treated eligible for consideration to the post of Post-Graduate Teacher (Biology).

There is no doubt that the Masters in Science in Food Processing Technology, as possessed by the petitioner (Annexure P-4), does not specifically find mentioned in the Division Bench order, however, M.Sc. Food Technology is mentioned therein. The principle, which appears to have been laid down by the Division Bench, is that any Postgraduate Course, which has been run by the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University, would be treated to be included in Life Sciences and the candidates possessing such postgraduate degree would be eligible for consideration for appointment to the post of Post-Graduate Teacher (Biology) subject to fulfilling the other conditions.

This conclusion of mine is apparent and stands concluded when reference is made to the orders passed by the same Division Bench subsequently in Ravi Kumar''s case (supra), where the following order was passed on 11.12.2012:--

"C.M. No. 17639 of 2012

Application is allowed, as prayed for.

Annexures P-15 is taken on record.

C.W.P. No. 21488 of 2012

Petitioner has filed certificate to demonstrate that M.Sc. Biomedical Sciences is covered by the Faculty of Life Sciences.

In view thereof, this petition stands allowed in terms of the judgment dated 04.12.2012 passed by this Court in CWP No. 13125 of 2012 titled as Balbi v. State of Haryana and others,.

Further order dated 11.12.2012 (same day) passed in Harjinder Kaur''s case (supra) reads as follows:--

"C.M. No. 17719 of 2012

Application is allowed, as prayed for.

Annexures P-10 and P-11 are taken on record.

C.W.P. No. 21461 of 2012

Petitioner has filed certificate to demonstrate that M.Sc. Human Biology is covered by the Faculty of Life Sciences.

In view thereof, this petition stands allowed in terms of the judgment dated 04.12.2012 passed by this Court in CWP No. 13125 of 2012 titled as Balbi v. State of Haryana and others,.

A perusal of the above orders would further indicate that the Division Bench had not only restricted the observations and conclusions, as made in Babli''s case (supra), to the universities of the State of Haryana but hid even expanded to the Delhi University, which would mean the other universities as well.

Counsel for the State is unable to inform the Court as to whether the orders passed by the Division Bench stand accepted by the State of Haryana or had been challenged by them in the Supreme Court.

Coming to the contentions of the counsel for the State, when he places reliance upon the judgment passed by a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Rakesh Kumar''s case (supra), suffice it to say that the case did not relate to appointment to the post of Post-Graduate Teacher (Biology) but it related to a situation where the appointment to the service was on the post of Agriculture Development Officer (Administration Cadre) where the qualification prescribed for the post was B.Sc. (Hons.) in Agriculture and the petitioners had sought to press the claim on the basis of equivalence of degree possessed by them other than the one advertised, which aspect was not accepted by the Court in the light of various judgments, which have been passed by the Supreme Court, reference whereof has been made therein.

Present is a case where the petitioner is not seeking equivalence of the course but is seeking that the course done by her is included in ''M.Sc. Life Sciences''. The principle, as laid down by the judgment in. Rakesh Kumar''s case (supra), would thus, not be applicable to the case in hand.

Similarly, in Roop Chand''s case (supra), which was an order passed by another Co-ordinate Bench which would not be of much help to the respondents, where again, the equivalence of a qualification was sought to be asserted by the petitioner and the said claim was dismissed on the ground that it was not a duty of the Court nor could the Court go into this aspect.

No doubt, reliance by the counsel for the State upon, an order passed by this Court in Nitesh''s case (supra) would be in his favour as it related to the same selection and virtually the same qualification and degree as of the petitioner but the said judgment has been passed by this Court without taking into consideration the principles, as have been laid down by the Division Bench in Babli''s case (supra) rather this Court had proceeded to place reliance upon the judgment in Rakesh''s case (supra) where the question was with regard to the equivalence of the qualifications possessed by a candidate and not inclusion of a degree within the broader degree, which was sought to be treated as a required qualification for the post. Proceeding on the principle of equivalence, the Court had further relied upon the judgment in Vikas Sharma''s case (supra), which also would not be, on principle, applicable to the case in hand. The decision, therefore, rendered by this Court in Nitesh''s case (supra) may not to be, laying down the correct preposition in law and, therefore, I am not inclined to follow the same. In view of the above, the present writ petition is allowed.

A direction is issued to the respondents to consider the petitioner eligible for appointment to the post of Post Graduate Teacher (Biology) on the principle that the course, which has been done by the petitioner, being conducted by the Faculty of Life Sciences would be covered by the qualification ''M.Sc. Life Sciences'' as has been held by the Division Bench of this Court in Babli''s case (supra). The result of the petitioner be declared along with the other candidates who have applied for the post in question.