HC upholds state's right to set eligibility criteria in recruitment rules
The court stated that prescribing educational qualifications is a matter of recruitment policy, and the state, as an employer, is entitled to determine the eligibility criteria.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Ravindra Kumar Agrawal recently heard petitions filed by Madhukar Patel, Shruti Verma, Karnika Dwivedi, Gunja Dhruv, and Chandra Prakash, who hold M Tech degrees in soil and water engineering from Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur.
The petitioners challenged the recruitment rules, arguing that their qualification was equivalent to the prescribed postgraduate degree in geology. They were debarred from applying for five vacant posts of assistant geo hydrologist in the water resources department, for which the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission issued an advertisement on Feb 12, 2020.
The petitioners' counsel, Vedant Shadangi, contended that the M Tech degree in soil and water engineering is equivalent to a postgraduate degree in geology.
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He said that the petitioners were qualified and eligible for the post. He added that the IGKV and the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission both considered including the M Tech degree as a minimum educational qualification.
The state govt's counsel, Yashwant Singh Thakur, additional advocate general, opposed the plea. He submitted that a postgraduate degree in geology is a prerequisite for the post, which involves studying the earth and its processes.
Geology is a specialised field required for civil engineering projects, such as the construction of dams, reservoirs, and tunnels. The work of an assistant geo hydrologist deals with reappraisal hydrological surveys, site selection, and supervision of groundwater exploratory drilling.
The subject of geology is a useful part in the search for coal, petroleum, and minerals, etc., he submitted.
Thakur said that the M Tech in soil and water engineering is suitable for agriculture-related work and is not relevant to the water resources department.
The state, as an employer, had the right to set the eligibility criteria based on the job's nature, and its decision to not include the M Tech degree was not arbitrary or discriminatory. He also pointed out that the recruitment process for the post was already completed, and the selected candidates were issued appointment letters on Oct 21, 2021.
The petitioners failed to implead the selected candidates as respondents.
The court, after hearing both parties, conducted a comparative analysis of the two fields. It noted that geology is a broader field focused on studying the entire earth, while soil and water engineering is a specialised branch of agricultural engineering. The court said that though the fields might intersect, they are distinct.
The bench cited judgments of the Supreme Court, including the Zahoor Ahmad Rathar vs Sheikh Imtiyaz Ahmad and Maharashtra Public Service Commission vs Sandeep Shriram Warade and others cases. The court said that the equivalence of a qualification is not a matter for judicial review, but for the employer to decide. The rules prescribing the qualifications for a post are valid and do not suffer from any unreasonableness.
The court held that the minimum educational qualification fixed in the rules for the post of assistant geo hydrologist is not ultra vires and is well within the legislative competence of the state. The petition was dismissed.
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