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2016 DIGILAW 603 (PAT)

Vimlesh Vivuti Ranjan v. State of Bihar

2016-05-12

AJAY KUMAR TRIPATHI

body2016
JUDGMENT : A batch of writ applications have been filed by the petitioners when the Bihar Public Service Commission by virtue of a notification contained in (Annexure-10) in CWJC No.18222 of 2015 declared the petitioners ineligible on the ground that the degree which is M.Sc. (Engineering), issued by B.R.A. Bihar University, Muzaffarpur is not a recognized degree from All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE). The petitioners were applicants on the post of Assistant Professor under different streams for which advertisement dated 22.08.2014 contained in Annexure-6 was issued. 2. The main refrain in all the writ applications is that after accepting the application of the petitioners and processing it, they are even issued roll numbers. Some of these petitioners' names also figured in the list of eligible candidates for participation in the written examination but after sometime yet another list was published on the website of the Bihar Public Service Commission and they have been shown to be ineligible. That is the reason for them to approach the High Court. They not only seek a declaration that the degree of M.Sc. in Engineering issued by B.R.A. Bihar University is a valid degree and equivalent to M.E. or M.Tech but also want quashing of the list showing these petitioners to be ineligible, as also a direction for permitting them to sit in the examination. 3. Counter affidavit both on behalf of Bihar Public Service Commission as well as the Department of Science and Technology has been filed. The stand of the Bihar Public Service Commission is that the qualification indicated in the advertisement is based on the requisition sent by the Department of Science and Technology. The eligibility and requirements are inconformity with the statutory Rule which was notified by the State of Bihar. The Rule is known as Bihar Engineering Education Service Rules, 2014. The decision to declare candidates who are holder of degree, like, M.Sc. Engineering from B.R.A. University to be ineligible has been done after a detailed deliberation and consultation done with the State Government specially the Department of Science and Technology. 4. Bihar Public Service Commission has also annexed Annexure-H, which is an extract from the Bihar Universities Calendar and Regulations to show and demonstrate that the award of degree of M.Sc. in Engineering is based on some kind of a research work. There is no set syllabus. No classes or teaching. 4. Bihar Public Service Commission has also annexed Annexure-H, which is an extract from the Bihar Universities Calendar and Regulations to show and demonstrate that the award of degree of M.Sc. in Engineering is based on some kind of a research work. There is no set syllabus. No classes or teaching. After completion it is not a degree but a diploma is awarded. Not only this, looking at the nature of the course of studies, no marksheet is also issued by the University which will have its own complication since weightage is also required to be given on the basis of academic performance as per the advertisement. 5. The counsel representing the Bihar Public Service Commission insists that the decision to make holders of such degree ineligible was not a flash in the pan kind of decision. It was taken after many rounds of discussion and exchange of correspondences and clarification between the Commission and the nodal department, i.e., Science and Technology, Government of Bihar. Some of the communications are contained in Annexure-J and K to the counter affidavit of the Bihar Public Service Commission. 6. The counsel representing the State supports the stand of the Bihar Public Service Commission. It is their stand that the so called degree of M.Sc. Engineering is not a valid and recognized degree. It is not approved or recognized degree by AICTE. There cannot be any equivalence between the qualification so demanded in the advertisement. The equivalence which is being pleaded and urged at the bar cannot be decided by a Court of Law. Such equivalence also cannot be declared by a Court. Such principle has been laid down by even the Apex Court as early as in the case of Mohd. Shujat Ali v. Union of India, reported in (1975) 3 SCC 76 . 7. The State counsel further takes a stand that when an employer issues an advertisement for recruitment, and lays down the conditions and eligibility which also includes the qualifications which they are looking for, then it is the employer who knows best and nobody can make a grievance or ask a Court to declare that the qualification which a litigant possesses should fit the bill and the requirement of the advertisement. Attention of the Court has been drawn to the case of State of Rajasthan v. Lata Arun, reported in (2002) 6 SCC 252 . Attention of the Court has been drawn to the case of State of Rajasthan v. Lata Arun, reported in (2002) 6 SCC 252 . The ratio of the said decision with regard to the proposition, as above, has been laid down in paragraph-13 of the said decision which reads as under: "13. From the ratio of the decisions noted above, it is clear that the prescribed eligibility qualification for admission to a course or for recruitment to or promotion in service are matters to be considered by the appropriate authority. It is not for courts to decide whether a particular educational qualification should or should not be accepted as equivalent to the qualification prescribed by the authority." (emphasis mine) 8. The Court is not impressed by the submission of the counsels on behalf of the petitioners that since these petitioners have been working as teachers in MIT, Muzaffarpur on contract basis for a while, therefore, they fulfill all the requirements even in matters of permanent appointment on the post of an Assistant Professor. The appointment or engagement of these petitioners in whatever institution they are, is a kind of a working arrangement and all these engagements have been done much prior to the 2014 Rule having been brought into place by the State. Now that the Rule codifies the requirement with regard to eligibility, qualification and experience for different subjects, which I am informed is in consonance with the requirements laid down by AICTE. The same is not required to be tinkered or interpreted by a Court of Law. Both the Rule and the advertisement are unambiguous as to what should be the qualification, the experience etc. in the various subjects for which the advertisement has been issued. The effort on the part of these petitioners to obtain a declaration from the Court by way of a finding as an equivalence, is a desperate effort to get a foothold without there being the eligibility and the qualification in terms of the requirements of the advertisement. 9. Annexure-H annexed with the counter affidavit of the Bihar Public Service Commission also throws adequate light in the manner in which the so called course of studies and award of degree/diploma is being done by the B.R.A. Bihar University in M.Sc. Engineering. It is a unique kind of education which is imparted in engineering. 9. Annexure-H annexed with the counter affidavit of the Bihar Public Service Commission also throws adequate light in the manner in which the so called course of studies and award of degree/diploma is being done by the B.R.A. Bihar University in M.Sc. Engineering. It is a unique kind of education which is imparted in engineering. May be it has an object of facilitating some research work in the area but that by itself may not be adequate for this Court to declare award of the said diploma or degree to be equivalent to Master of Engineering (M.E.) or Master of Technology (M.Tech.). 10. The Court, therefore, is not impressed by the arguments and submissions of the counsels for the petitioners that the decision of the Bihar Public Service Commission to show them to be ineligible for consideration for appointment as Assistant Professors in the engineering colleges being run by the State of Bihar suffers from any infirmity or vice of irrationality or arbitrariness. The decision so taken and notified has been done after much deliberation and application of mind keeping various factors and parameters and on due consultation with the State of Bihar specially the Department of Science and Technology. 11. The writ applications, therefore, have no merit and are dismissed since so called M.Sc. (Engineering) is not equivalent to M.E. or M.Tech.