‘Degree holder can be ineligible for jr engineer’s post if criterion is diploma’:Allahabad High Court

Source: hindustantimes.com

The Allahabad High Court has ruled that an engineering degree holder cannot be considered for appointment to the post of junior engineer which seeks a diploma as the eligibility criterion.

The court was hearing a case wherein Deepak Singh, who along with nine others who held a B Tech degree had filed a plea after they were not allowed to participate in the recruitment process for the post of junior engineer in the state government. They applied for the post after the state government issued an advertisement, fixing the minimum qualification as diploma in engineering.

Passing an order in the case on July 23, a three-judge bench comprising justice BK Narayana, justice Ramesh Sinha and justice Pankaj Bhatia said the state government had the power to prescribe the requisite qualification for an advertised post and it couldn’t be subjected to judicial review.

The petitioners’ plea was that a degree in engineering was a higher qualification, hence they should be allowed to participate in the recruitment process.

The court said, “Diploma in engineering and a degree in engineering are two distinct qualifications and a degree in the field in question cannot be viewed as a higher qualification when compared to diploma in that field. Hence, degree holders will be held ineligible to participate in the light of the advertisement issued by the state government.”