Rajendra Singh Rajpurohit Son Of ... vs State Of Rajasthan
2022 Latest Caselaw 4812 Raj/2

Citation : 2022 Latest Caselaw 4812 Raj/2
Judgement Date : 14 July, 2022

Rajasthan High Court

Rajendra Singh Rajpurohit Son Of ... vs State Of Rajasthan on 14 July, 2022

Bench: Inderjeet Singh

       HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN
                   BENCH AT JAIPUR

              S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 10088/2022

Rajendra Singh Rajpurohit Son Of Shri Bhanwar Singh, Aged
About 31 Years, Resident Of Datta Nagar, Jatiya Hills, Ajmer
Rajasthan.
                                                                    ----Petitioner
                                    Versus
1.     State Of Rajasthan, Through Principal Secretary To
       Government, Higher Education Department, Government
       Of Rajasthan, Secretariat, Jaipur Rajasthan.
2.     Commissioner, Commissionerate Of College Education,
       Government Of Rajasthan, Block-Iv, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
       Shiksha Sankul, Jln Marg, Jaipur, Rajasthan.
3.     Rajasthan     Public      Service        Commission,        Through     Its
       Secretary, Ajmer, Rajasthan.
4.     University     Grants       Commission            (Ugc),    Through     Its
       Secretary, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi.
5.     National Testing Agency (Nta), Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg,
       New Delhi.
                                                                 ----Respondents

For Petitioner(s) : Mr. Madhusudan Singh Rajpurohit, Adv.

For Respondent(s)         :


        HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE INDERJEET SINGH
                       Order
14/07/2022

1. This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner with the

following prayer:-

"It is, therefore, prayed that this writ petition be accepted; the Hon'ble Court be pleased to call for the entire record of the case and:

(i) by a writ of mandamus any other appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature thereof, the condition at PG no. 2 relating to qualification requirement in the advertisement dated 18th December, 2020 which provides that the candidate must qualify the NET/SET/SLET exam by the

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date of commencement of the interview process should be relaxed in the case of the petitioner or not made applicable in the fact of the case;

(ii) by a writ of prohibition or any other appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature thereof, the respondent RPSC may be restrained from rejecting the application of the petitioner at the time of interview on account of not clearing the NET/SET examination and the petitioner may be allowed to undertake the interview. Further, in case during the pendency of the writ petition, any order or letter disqualifying the petitioner on the ground of NET/SET exam is passed/issued by the respondent then the same may also be quash and set aside.

(iii) by a writ of mandamus any other appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature thereof, the respondent RPSC and Respondent UGC and NAT be directed to conduct the SET/NET examination at the earliest;

(iv) Any other order or direction which this Hon'ble Court deems just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case may also be passed in favour of the petitioner."

2. Brief facts of the case as narrated in the writ petition are that

an advertisement dated 18.12.2020 was issued by the Rajasthan

Public Service Commission (hereinafter to be referred as

"Commission") for holding selection on the post of Assistant

Professor in Government Colleges and in all 918 posts were

advertised for 31 subjects. Apart from other qualifications as

mentioned in the advertisement, the candidates were also

required to hold the certificate of clearing/qualifying the NET/SET

on the date of interview. The petitioner applied for the post of

Assistant Professor (Political Science). The written examination

was held from 22.09.2021 to 29.09.2021 and its result was

declared by the Commission on 26.04.2022 shortlisting the

number of candidates to be called for interview. On 21.06.2022 a

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Press Note was issued by the Commission with the disclosure that

the interview for the post of Assistant Professor (Political Science)

(College Education Department) shall be held from 04.07.2022 to

21.07.2022 and the candidates being called to participate in the

interview were directed to carry all the original certificates along

with photostat copies thereof, to be produced at the time of

interview.

3. Grievance of the petitioner by filing the present writ petition

is that except SET/NET qualification, he holds all other

qualifications required for appointment on the post of Assistant

Professor and he apprehends that he shall be disqualified in the

interview in absence of certificate of clearing/qualifying SET/NET.

4. Counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner

completed/done his Master's degree in Political Science in the year

2021 which makes him eligible to appear in the NET/SET and

holding the qualification of SET/NET on the date of interview is

mandated in the advertisement and in absence of SET/NET

qualification his candidature shall be rejected for no fault on his

part as these examinations were not conducted during the last

years. Counsel further submits that except NET/SET, the petitioner

is having all other qualifications required for appointment on the

post of Assistant Professor, therefore, prayed that while relaxing

such condition, the respondents be directed to consider the case

of the petitioner even without having the qualification of NET/SET.

5. Heard counsel for the petitioner and perused the record.

6. As the sole case projected by the petitioner rests on the

qualification of NET/SET, it would be appropriate to quote the

condition incorporated by the Commission in the advertisement

with regard to NET/SET, which reads as under:-

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"7(1)(ii). Besides fulfilling the above qualifications, the candidate must have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the UGC, CSIR, or similar test accredited by the UGC like SLET/SET."

7. From perusal of the above, it is apparently clear that the

candidate must hold the qualification of NET/SET on the date of

interview and as per own admitted version of the petitioner as

stated in the writ petition, the petitioner is not having the said

qualification and the reason assigned by the petitioner is that the

said examinations were not conducted by the concerned

Examining Body/State Government in the last two years.

8. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the matter of Nagaland

Public Service Commission vs. State of Nagaland and Ors.

reported in 2017 (13) SCC 498 wherein para 5 reads as under:-

"5. Qualification is something to be prescribed by the State Government, the appointing authority. The Commission is only to go by the qualification and it cannot improve upon that. Since the State does not have a case that the Appellant possesses the required qualification and rightly so, we find no merit in the appeals, which are, accordingly, dismissed."

9. This writ petition filed by the petitioner deserves to be

dismissed for the reasons; firstly, admittedly, the petitioner is not

having the required qualification of passing/qualifying the NET/SET

which is a pre-condition to appear in the interview as mentioned in

the advertisement, therefore, in my considered view, the

petitioner is not entitled for any relief; secondly, in view of the

judgment passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the matter of

Nagaland Public Service Commission (supra), in the facts

and circumstances I am not inclined to exercise the extraordinary

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jurisdiction of this court under Article 226 of the Constitution of

India.