Service law: Appointment to the Post of Postgraduate trained Teachers – Eligibility Criteria – Jharkhand Selection Service Selection issued an advertisement by which application were invited from the eligible candidate for the appointment to the Post of Postgraduate trained Teachers – Eligibility Criteria for the appointment in History was Postgraduate degree in History with 50% marks – At the time of verification of testimonials of the selected candidates, it was found that they had a Postgraduate degree in one of the branches of History in place of History as a whole – Their candidatures were cancelled – High Court dismissed their writ petition – On appeal, held: Obtaining degree in one of the branches of History cannot be said to be having a degree in History as a whole – History teacher has to teach in all branches of History, namely, Ancient History, Medieval/Modern History, etc – Expert Committee opined that the degrees obtained by the respective candidates/petitioners in one branch of History cannot be said to be obtaining the degree in History as a whole and therefore they cannot be said to be having the requisite qualification as per the advertisement – In the field of education, the Court of Law cannot act as an expert normally, therefore, whether or not a student/candidate is possessing the requisite qualification should better be left to the educational institutions, more particularly, when the Expert Committee considers the matter – Candidature of appellants rightly cancelled on the ground that they did not have the requisite qualification for the post – Education/Educational Institutions. Dismissing the appeals, the Court
HELD: 1. The respective writ petitioners have obtained the Postgraduate degrees/ Bachelor degrees, as the case may be, in one of the branches of History, namely, Indian Ancient History, Indian Ancient History and Culture, Medieval / Modern History, Indian Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology. Obtaining the degree in one of the branches of History cannot be said to be obtaining the degree in History as a whole. As a History teacher, he/she has to teach in all the subjects of History, namely, Ancient History, Indian Ancient History and Culture, Medieval /Modern History, Indian Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology etc. Therefore, having studied and obtaining the degree in only one branch of History cannot be said to be having a degree in History subject as a whole, which was the requirement. All the relevant aspects have been considered and gone into in detail by the Single Judge meticulously. [Paras 6, 6.1][333-D-G]
2. Even at the request of J.S.S.C. the question, whether, the degrees obtained by the respective petitioners in one branch of History can be said to be sufficient compliance as per the advertisement and can be said to be obtaining a degree in History came to be considered by the Expert Committee and the Expert Committee has opined that the degrees obtained by the respective candidates/petitioners in one branch of History cannot be said to be obtaining the degree in History as a whole and therefore they cannot be said to be having the requisite qualification as per the advertisement. As per the settled proposition of law, in the field of education, the Court of Law cannot act as an expert normally, therefore, whether or not a student/candidate is possessing the requisite qualification should better be left to the educational institutions, more particularly, when the Expert Committee considers the matter. [Paras 6.4, 6.5][334-B-D]
3. In the present case, the educational qualifications required has been specifically mentioned in the advertisement. There is no ambiguity and/or confusion in the advertisement providing educational qualification and the post for which the applications were invited (History/Civics). There cannot be any deviation from the educational qualifications mentioned in the advertisement. Once having found that the respective writ petitioners-appellants were not having the requisite qualification as per the advertisement, namely, the Postgraduate/Bachelor degree in History, which was the requirement as per the advertisement and thereafter their candidature was canceled, both the Single Judge as well as the Division Bench of the High Court have rightly refused to interfere with the same. [Para 6.6] [334-E-G]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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