Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 13: A Bench of Central Administrative Tribunal Srinagar comprising DS Mahra (J) Member and Parshant Kumar (A) Member has held that to prescribe a qualification for a particular post is a matter of policy and is to be decided by the State.
Further, the CAT said that the respondents as an employer are entitled to prescribe a qualification as a condition for eligibility. It is not for the court or the Tribunals to enlarge the scope of the prescribed qualification under the pretext of judicial review. Moreover, a particular qualification is equivalent or higher is not a matter which is to be considered and determined in exercise of the powers under judicial review. Whether a particular degree/qualification should be an essential qualification for a particular post or not is to be decided and determined by the recruiting agency.
This significant order has been passed by Central Administrative Tribunal in a petition filed by Mustaq Ahmed Nazar and others in which petitioner submitted that J&K Service Selection Board vide Advertisement No. 4 of 2020, dated 16.12.2020 advertised the post of Junior Librarian in the Department of Culture, Union Territory of J&K in Item No. 48 and 49 respectively.
The counsel appearing for the applicants submitted that though the only and essential qualification for the post of Junior Librarian is BA/BSc/BCom with Certificate Course in Library Science, the applicants are better qualified and are in possession of BA/BSc/BCom with Bachelors Degree in Library Science which is superior degree than Certificate Course in Library Science.
“Therefore, the applicants are to be considered against the post of Junior Librarian”, he said, adding “initially the applicants were called for CBT and subsequently, also for document verification. But after the selection process is over the respondents are not issuing the final selection list under the pretext that the B.Lib/B.Lis is not equivalent to the Certificate Course in Library Science”.
After hearing both the sides, CAT observed, “as per the Recruitment Rules the essential prescribed qualification for the post of Junior Librarian is BA/BSc/BCom with Certificate Course in Library Science and for the post of Librarian the essential qualification is BA/BSc/BCom with Bachelors Degree in Library Science. Therefore, the higher post is the Librarian and the lower post is the Junior Librarian. Accordingly, for the post of Librarian the essential prescribed qualification is higher i.e. Bachelors Degree in Library Science and for Junior Librarian, which is a lower post, the essential prescribed qualification as per the Recruitment Rules is Certificate Course in Library Science”.
“It is essential for the candidate applying for the post of any kind to posses the statutorily required prescribed qualification for appointment to the said post”, CAT said, adding “it is clear from the Recruitment Rules for the post of Junior Librarian that B.Lib/B.Lis Degree is not a prescribed qualification. Meaning thereby, the applicants were clearly not eligible to compete and should not have been allowed to take part in the selection process”.
“It is for the recruiting agency or State authorities to frame the policy of recruitment and to decide the source from which the recruitment is to be made”, CAT said, adding “if the applicants are allowed to participate in the process of selection and finally are selected for the post of Junior Librarian that will be amounting to clear violation of the Recruitment Rules for the post of Junior Librarian and re-writing the essential qualification prescribed under the Recruitment Rules pertaining to Junior Librarian”.
The CAT held that to prescribe a qualification for a particular post is a matter of policy and is to be decided by the State. “The respondents as an employer are entitled to prescribe a qualification as a condition for eligibility. It is not for the court or the Tribunals to enlarge the scope of the prescribed qualification under the pretext of judicial review. Moreover, a particular qualification is equivalent or higher is not a matter which is to be considered and determined in exercise of the powers under judicial review. Whether a particular degree/qualification should be an essential qualification for a particular post or not is to be decided and determined by the recruiting agency”, Tribunal added.
With these observations, CAT said that applicants are not entitled for any relief.
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