Dhagendra Kumar Sahu v. State of Chhattisgarh
Case brief
What is this about?
WPS Nos. 1983 & 2012 of 2025, High Court of Chhattisgarh, Bilaspur (neutral citation 2025:CGHC:30088-DB), common order dated 03/07/2025 by Ramesh Sinha, CJ and Bibhu Datta Guru, J (author). Engineering graduates led by Arvind Kumar (20 petitioners) and Dhagendra Kumar Sahu (3 petitioners) challenged the diploma-only prescribed qualification for direct recruitment to Sub-Engineer (Civil/Mechanical/Electrical) under Rule 8(II)/Schedule-III column (5) of the Chhattisgarh PHE Department (Non-Gazetted) (Recruitment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2016 (Gazette 30/12/2016) and the advertisement dated 07.03.2025 for the examination scheduled 27.04.2025. The Court declared the provision illegal and ultra vires Articles 14, 16 and 21, applying Shayara Bano (2017) 9 SCC 1 on manifest arbitrariness of subordinate legislation; Puneet Sharma (2021) 16 SCC 340, Ankita Thakur (2023 SCC Online SC 1472), Durgawati (WPS 4292/2019) and Bhim Bali Yadav (WPS 1496/2022) were referred by counsel. Interim order of 25/03/2025 had let degree holders apply (in rem); selection directed to continue; both petitions allowed. Counsel: Ajay Shrivastava, G.P. Mathur, Pratibha Sahu (petitioners); Shashank Thakur, Dy. AG (State); Avinash Singh (CG Vyapam); Uttam Pandey, Bharat Sharma (intervenor).