Allowed

Achlesh Kumar v. the State of Jharkhand through the Secretary Pr Secretary School Education and Literacy Department

Jharkhand HC11 Jan 2024WPC/2396/2019

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

Petitioner's candidature for TGT (Physical Education) under JSSC Advertisement No. 21/2016 was rejected despite his BCA and B.P.Ed. degrees. The court held a BCA degree is a Science graduation per UGC notification, and rejection could not rest on grounds absent from the impugned notice; it quashed the notice and directed consideration for appointment.

What the court decided

AI extract

Achlesh Kumar Vs the State of Jharkhand through… — Education and Admissions | Jharkhand HC (2024)

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI

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W.P.(S) No. 2396 of 2019

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Achlesh Kumar ….. Petitioner

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Versus

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The State of Jharkhand, through the Secretary/Principal Secretary, School Education and Literacy Department, Ranchi 2. The Director, Secondary Education, School Education and Literacy Department, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi

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Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission, through its Secretary, Ranchi

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The Examination Controller, Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission, Ranchi

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….. Respondents

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----- CORAM HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH SHANKAR

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----For the Petitioner: Mr. Manoj Tandon For the State: Mr. Anil Kr. Singh, A.C to G.P-I For the JSSC: Mr. Sanjay Piprawall

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10/11.01.2024 The present writ petition has been filed for quashing important notice No. 3330 dated 25.4.2019 (Annexure-8 to the writ petition) issued under the signature of the respondent No.4, so far it relates to the petitioner, whereby his candidature for appointment on the post of Trained Graduate Teacher (Physical Education) pursuant to Advertisement No. 21/2016 issued by the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC), Ranchi, has been rejected. Further prayer has been made for issuance of direction upon the respondent-JSSC to issue appointment letter to the petitioner on the post of Trained Graduate Teacher in the subject ‘Physical Education’ (direct recruitment) as he was shortlisted for document verification being a successful candidate in the Combined Graduate Trained Teacher Competitive Examination, 2016 pursuant to the said advertisement.

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Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner has been awarded the Degree of Bachelor of Computer Application (three-year-Degree course) and Bachelor of Physical Education (B.P.Ed.) from Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut. The University Grants Commission in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of Section 22 of the University Grants Commission, Act, 1956 (3 of 1956), issued gazette notification pertaining

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to specification of Degrees with approval of the Central Government mentioning inter alia that level of the Degree of ‘BCA’ comes under the Degree of ‘Science’.

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It is further submitted that Advertisement No. 21/2016 was issued by the respondent-JSSC for appointment against the vacancies of Trained Graduate Teachers in the concerned subjects in the Government Secondary Schools and one of the subjects for the said post was ‘Physical Education’ for which the required minimum qualification was to possess the Graduation Degree in ‘Arts/Science/Commerce’ with minimum 45% marks and B.P.Ed. Degree obtained from a recognised institution of the State or the Central Government. The petitioner applied for the said post in subject ‘Physical Education’ under unreserved category and also qualified the said examination. Thereafter, he was called for documents verification on 18.1.2019 where he produced all the relevant certificates, however, a notice dated 14.3.2019 was issued to him mentioning that he did not produce the certificate of Graduation in ‘Arts/Science/ Commerce’ as per the said advertisement. Finally, the result of the said examination was uploaded on 16.4.2019 in the official website of the respondent-JSSC wherein the petitioner’s roll number did not find place among the successful candidates. Subsequently, important notice No. 3330 dated 25.4.2019 was issued specifying that the candidature of the petitioner was rejected on the ground that he did not produce the certificate of requisite qualification as per the terms & conditions of the said advertisement. 4. It is also submitted that the petitioner has obtained more marks than the last selected candidate in the concerned subject, however, his candidature has been rejected only on the ground that he does not possess the Degree of ‘Science’ which is wholly arbitrary and colourable exercise of power by the respondent-JSSC. The petitioner is having the Degree of ‘BCA’ with more than 45% marks and Degree of B.P.Ed. which is the requisite minimum qualification for appointment of Trained Graduate Teacher (Physical Education). Hence, there is no justifiable reason with the respondent-JSSC to reject his candidature.

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Per-contra, learned counsel for the respondent-JSSC submits that the petitioner, in his online application form, had mentioned his Graduation qualification in ‘Arts’ stream and he had nowhere mentioned about his qualification as ‘Bachelor of Computer Application’. On the date of verification, he failed to produce the Graduation Degree in ‘Arts’ as per the terms of declaration made by him in his online application form and hence a show cause notice dated 14.03.2019 was issued to him asking inter alia to respond to the same. However, neither he filed reply nor submitted any Graduation Degree in ‘Arts’ and hence the respondent-JSSC cancelled his candidature vide the important notice dated 25.04.2019. Admittedly, the petitioner did not mention about his Graduation Degree in ‘BCA’ in his online application form. On perusal of the advertisement in question, it would be evident that no correction was allowed in any column of the application form after submitting the same and the examination was to be conducted on the basis of the declaration made by the candidate in his/her application form. It was nowhere mentioned in the said advertisement that equivalent Degree would also be considered by the JSSC. Neither the terms of the said advertisement can be changed after commencement of the selection process nor the unsuccessful candidate can challenge the selection process after his/her appearance in the examination and as such the present writ petition itself is not maintainable.

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Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant materials available on record. Thrust of the argument of learned counsel for the petitioner is that the petitioner is having essential qualification for being appointed on the post of Trained Graduate Teacher in the subject ‘Physical Education’ as he possesses Graduation Degree in ‘BCA’, with more than 45% marks which is a Graduation Degree in ‘Science’, however, the respondent-JSSC has arbitrarily rejected his candidature observing that he has failed to produce the required educational certificate for appointment on the said post.

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On the other hand, learned counsel for the respondent-JSSC submits that the petitioner in his online application form had indicated that he pursued his

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Graduation in ‘Arts’, however, during document verification, he failed to produce the required certificate in support of the said claim, due to which his candidature was rejected.

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Learned counsel for the respondent-JSSC puts reliance on the judgment of a co-ordinate Bench of this Court rendered in the case of Atish Kumar Vs. The State of Jharkhand & Ors. [W.P.(S) No. 3983 of 2018] . In the said case, the petitioner had wrongly filled the name of the University in the online application form as ‘Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, IPU, Delhi’ in place of ‘Veer Bahadur Singh Purwanchal University, Jaunpur (U.P)’, due to which his candidature was rejected by the respondent JSSC. The Bench dismissed the said writ petition holding that it was not open to a candidate to claim before the Court that he realized his mistake only when he failed to qualify in the selection process because he had given wrong particulars in his online application form.

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Learned counsel for the respondent-JSSC further puts reliance on a judgment of learned Division Bench of this Court rendered in the case of Manish Kumar & Ors. Vs. The State of Jharkhand, through the Chief Secretary & Ors. reported in 2020 (3) JLJR 577 . In the said case, it has been held that all the conditions stipulated in the advertisement are required to be followed by the examining body which cannot be deviated in any way and any deviation would amount to relaxation which is not permissible in law. The Court cannot grant relaxation in the conditions stipulated in the advertisement.

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To appreciate the rival contentions of learned counsel for the parties, I have perused the relevant materials available on record. The petitioner had filled up the online application form for appointment on the post of Trained Graduate Teacher in the subject ‘Physical Education’ under unreserved category and the required minimum qualification for the said post was Graduation Degree

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in ‘Arts/Science/Commerce’ from a recognized university of the State Government or the Central Government with minimum 45% marks along with recognized Degree in Physical Education.

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The petitioner obtained Degree in ‘BCA’ as well as Degree of ‘Bachelor in Physical Education’ from Choudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut and at the time of document verification, the said Degrees were produced by the petitioner, however, a show cause notice dated 14.03.2019 was issued to him alleging that he did not produce the Graduation Degree of ‘Arts/Science/Commerce’. Finally, vide the important notice dated 25.04.2019, his candidature was cancelled stating that he failed to produce the required educational certificate as per Para 4(Kha) of the said important notice.

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On bare perusal of Para 4(Kha), it appears that for Trained Graduate Teacher (Physical Education), the minimum qualification for the general category candidate is Graduation Degree from any recognized University of State Government or Central Government with minimum 45% marks as well as recognized Degree in ‘Physical Education’. It thus appears that the ground for rejection of the petitioner’s candidature, as has been mentioned in the counter affidavit, has neither been made a ground for rejection of his candidature either in the show cause notice or in the impugned important notice dated 25.04.2019. It further appears that by way of filing counter affidavit, the respondents are trying to supplement the reason for rejection of the petitioner’s candidature.

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In the case of Mohinder Singh Gill & Anr. Vs. Chief Election Commissioner & Ors. reported in (1978) 1 SCC 405 , the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that when a statutory functionary makes an order based on certain grounds, its validity must be judged by the reasons so mentioned and cannot be supplemented by fresh reasons in the shape of affidavit or otherwise. The judgments relied upon by learned counsel for the respondent-JSSC are not applicable in the facts and circumstance of the present case since the respondents themselves have not rejected the candidature of the petitioner on the ground of error committed by him while filling up the online application.

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Now the question falls for consideration before this Court is as to whether the ground taken in the impugned important notice dated 25.04.2019 for rejection of the candidature of the petitioner is legally sustainable.

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The petitioner has produced before this Court a copy of the gazette notification dated 05.07.2014 issued by the University Grants Commission whereby ‘BCA’ Degree has been treated as Degree of Graduation in ‘Science’. 16. In the case of Purnima Kumari Vs. The State of Jharkhand & Ors. [W.P.(S) No. 2466 of 2023] reported in 2023 SCC Online Jhar 2466 , as has been relied upon by learned counsel for the petitioner, this Court while referring the judgments of a co-ordinate Bench of this Court rendered in the cases of Mukesh Ranjan Vs. The State of Jharkhand & Ors. [W.P.(S) No. 2715 of 2019] and Raj Dev Singh & Anr. Vs. The State of Jharkhand & Ors. [W.P.(S) No. 920 of 2019] has held that ‘BBA’ Degree is to be treated as the Degree in ‘Commerce’ and ‘BCA’ Degree is to be treated as Degree in ‘Science’.

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It would be amply clear from the gazette notification dated 05.07.2014 issued by the University Grants Commission as also the aforesaid judgments relied upon by learned counsel for the petitioner that ‘BCA’ Degree is to be treated as Bachelor Degree in ‘Science’. Thus, the ground for rejection of the petitioner’s candidature mentioned in the important notice dated 25.04.2019 i.e. “the candidate failed to produce certificate in support of his educational qualification as per Para 4(Kha) of the said important notice” cannot be sustained in law as the petitioner had produced the certificate of ‘BCA’ which was a Degree of Bachelor in ‘Science’.

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In view of the aforesaid discussions, the impugned important notice No. 3330 dated 25.4.2019 issued under the signature of the respondent No.4, so far it relates to the petitioner, whereby his candidature for appointment on the post of Trained Graduate Teacher (Physical Education) pursuant to Advertisement No. 21/2016 issued by the JSSC has been rejected, is hereby quashed. The respondents are directed to consider the case of the petitioner for appointment on the post of Trained Graduate Teacher in the subject ‘Physical Education’ (direct recruitment) pursuant to Advertisement No. 21/2016

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treating ‘BCA’ Degree possessed by the petitioner as Graduation Degree in

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‘Science’ stream.

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