Service Law:
Selection/ Recruitment – Eligibility requirement for the post in question was post-graduate degree or diploma in social work/Labour Welfare/ Industrial Relations/ Personnel Management/ Any other allied subjects – Respondent-candidate declared ineligible for the post – Central Administrative Tribunal held the candidate as eligible for appointment to the post as he fulfilled the eligibility criteria since he had studied certain subjects in his MBA degree course which had bearing on the eligibility requirement for the post – High Court affirmed the order of the Tribunal – Appeal to Supreme Court – Held: The subjects studied by the candidate during MBA course cannot lead to conclusion that he had post-graduate degree or diploma in the disciplines specifically spelt out in the advertisement for the post – MBA degree cannot be regarded as allied to a post-graduate degree or diploma – The employer was best suited to judge whether the degree of the candidate was in an allied subject – Judgment of the Courts below was erroneous. Allowing the appeal, the Court
HELD: The eligibility requirements stipulated in the advertisement are that the candidate must have a post-graduate degree or diploma in (i) Social Work; or (ii) Labour Welfare; or
(iii) Industrial Relations; or (iv) Personnel Management; or (v) in any other allied subject of a recognized University/institution or equivalent. The first respondent in the MBA degree programme, during the course of the second semester, studied Human Resource Management as a subject. In the fourth semester, the first respondent had a course in Industrial Relations and Labour Legislation. Studying these two subjects would not lead to the conclusion that the first respondent holds a postgraduate degree or diploma in the disciplines which have been specifically spelt out in the advertisement or in any allied subject. The MBA degree cannot be regarded as allied to a post-graduate degree or diploma in Social Work, Labour Welfare, Industrial Relations or Personnel Management. The advertisement did not specifically provide how equivalence was to be established between a post-graduate degree/diploma in the subjects specified in the advertisement and a post-graduate degree/diploma in an allied subject. The appellant as an employer was best suited to judge whether the degree of the first respondent was in an allied subject. Unless this assessment was perverse or contrary to the requirements prescribed, the Tribunal had no reason to interfere. Therefore, the Tribunal was manifestly in error in holding that the first respondent was qualified merely because he studied two subjects as a part of his MBA degree programme, namely, Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations and Labour Legislation. Therefore, the findings which have been arrived at by the Tribunal and affirmed by the High Court are erroneous. [Paras 8-10][17-D-H; 18-A-C]
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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