Allahabad High Court
Sudhir Singh vs State Of U.P. And Another on 19 February, 2021
Bench: Munishwar Nath Bhandari, Rohit Ranjan Agarwal
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 40
Case :- SPECIAL APPEAL DEFECTIVE No. - 147 of 2021
Appellant :- Sudhir Singh
Respondent :- State of U.P. and Another
Counsel for Appellant :- Nand Kishor Mishra,Shilpa Ahuja
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Abhishek Srivastava
Hon'ble Munishwar Nath Bhandari,J.
Hon'ble Rohit Ranjan Agarwal,J.
Order on Exemption Application
The application seeking exemption from filing certified copies of the order of the High Court is allowed.
The defect stands cured.
Order on Appeal
By this appeal, a challenge is made to the judgment dated 07.01.2021 whereby the writ petition preferred by the petitioner-appellant was dismissed.
It is a case where respondents issued an advertisement to invite applications for the post of Junior Engineer (Electrical). The petitioner-appellant made an application but in absence of required qualification, he was not held eligible. The essential qualification given in the advertisement has been referred by the learned Single Judge and is quoted hereunder for ready reference;
"5. Essential Eligibility Qualification:
(A) Candidates should have thorough knowledge of Hindi (Devnagri script). If the candidate has not passed High School or equivalent examination in Hindi, he/she has to clear an exam conducted by the Registrar, Department Examination Govt. of U.P. within 3 years of joining.
(B) A candidate must have passed:-
(i) "Three years Diploma examination in Electrical Engineering awarded by Pravidhik Shiksha Parishad, Uttar Pradesh or a Diploma, equivalent thereto, recognized by the State Government."
OR
(ii) "Three years All India Diploma Examination in Electrical Engineering conducted by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Govt. of India."
OR
(iii) "Diploma Examination in Electrical Engineering conducted by any of the Universities in India incorporated by an Act of the Central/State legislature."
The qualification required for the post in question was three years diploma examination in electrical engineering awarded by Pravidhik Shiksha Parishad, U.P. or a diploma qualification thereto recognized by the State Government or three years diploma examination in electrical engineering conducted by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Government of India or diploma examination in electrical engineering conducted by any university in India incorporated by an act of the Central or State.
It is a case where admittedly petitioner-appellant was not in possession of any of the qualification referred to above. He is in fact possessing the qualification of diploma in electrical engineering given by the Indian Air Force. The duration of the aforesaid course is only of two years having four semesters and there is nothing on record to show that the institution or qualification therein was recognized by AICTE. A perusal of the certificate issued in favour of the petitioner-appellant also shows recognition of the qualification for the services under the Central Government or government undertaking recognized by the Government of India, Ministry of Defence. The certificate aforesaid was not for general application. No notification has been placed on record to show recognition of the qualification or equivalence thereof by AICTE.
In the similar circumstances, this Court in case of Dinesh Kumar Shukla Vs. Electric Service Commission, Lucknow decided the appeal in Special Appeal Defective No. 392 of 2017 vide judgment dated 15.09.2017. The relevant para of the said judgment is quoted hereunder for ready reference;
"Learned Single Judge dismissed the writ petition of the petitioner-appellant on the finding that he did not possess the requisite diploma qualification as was mentioned in the advertisement. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the appellant did possess the diploma in Electrical Engineering relying upon a certificate issued by the Indian Air force on account of his serving with the Air force from 20th September, 1991 to 20th September, 2011 and having undergone the prescribed training in the Trade of MS FIT (E). He further submits that in the certificate it is mentioned that if the candidate acquires 10 years technical experience in appropriate field alongwith the diploma it would become equivalent to the degree in engineering and that he would be eligible for applying to gazetted posts under Central or State Government. He submits that appellant worked for 20 years with the Indian Air force alongwith his technical training as such he was fully eligible for applying to the post of Junior Engineer (Electrical) with the U.P. Power Corporation. This aspect has been dealt with by the learned Single Judge and it did not find favour. The same was rejected on two grounds that the training period of Diploma was very short and not of 3 years as required and secondly the same was not recognised by the Competent Authority. We do not find any fault with the reasoning recorded by the learned Single Judge by rejecting the said argument and dismissing the writ petition."
We otherwise find that the qualification prescribed under the rules and mentioned in para 5 of the advertisement was required to be possessed by the candidates. Equivalence to any other course can be given by the council namely AICTE or the State Government for their service and not by any other body having no authority of it for general application. The petitioner-appellant is not in possession of the qualification conferred either by an university incorporated by the Central or State Legislature or three years diploma course conducted by AICTE or for that State of U.P. There is nothing on record to show that the State of U.P. has given equivalence to the course/certificate obtained by the petitioner-appellant.
In absence of it, we do not find any error in the judgment to hold the petitioner-appellant to be ineligible. It otherwise goes without saying that the recognition of the institution and the course remains under the domain of AICTE and not with anyone else. The equivalence of the course is also to be given by AICTE being the council competent to issue notification for technical education. It is pursuant to the provisions of All India Council for Technical Education Act, 1987. If the recognition or equivalence of a technical course is to be given, it has to be as per the provisions of All India Council for Technical Education Act, 1987 and not in violation of it.
Taking note of all the facts relevant to this case, we do not find any error in the judgment so as to cause interference therein.
Appeal fails and is dismissed.
Order Date :- 19.2.2021
Shekhar
