JUDGMENT :

Sanjay Kishan Kaul, J.

The competing interests of post-graduates having the degree of M.A. (Education) and M.Ed. has given rise to a spate of litigation, and the present dispute flows from this. There are judicial precedents dealing with this issue, but in a relevant factual context. Further, there has been, to some extent, a pendulum swing in the stand of the concerned authorities in analysing this controversy based upon inputs from experts.

The Factual Matrix:

2. The origination of the dispute is Advertisement No. 46, which was issued by respondent No. 2, the Uttar Pradesh Higher Education Service Selection Commission (for short 'UPHESSC') in March, 2014 inviting applications for the post of Assistant Professors in various subjects, including 'Education'. The candidature of appellant No. 2 was rejected on the ground that he did not fulfill the minimum criteria set out by the University Grants Commission (for short 'UGC'), respondent No. 4, although he had an M.Ed. Degree. This caused the said appellant to approach the High Court by filing Writ-A No. 61 of 2015.

3. The process in pursuance of the aforesaid advertisement was nearly completed while the writ petition was still pending, and a subsequent advertisement, i.e., Advertisement No. 47 of 2016 was issued. This was once again for the post of Assistant Professor in various subjects, including hundred posts in 'Education' in Government aided non-Government universities. The eligibility criteria for the same was specified in para 6 of the advertisement, the relevant portion of which reads as under:

"Minimum Educational Qualifications

6. Mandatory Educational Qualification

The prescribed minimum educational qualification for the post of Assistant Professor mentioned in this advertisement is described under:

6.1 For the post of Assistant Professor for the subjects other than Singing and Fine Arts

6.1.1 Good academic record with 55 Percent score in relevant subject at Post Graduate Level (Or with similar scoring in relation to grades wherever grading system is prevalent).

6.1.2 Obtained passing marks in National Eligibility Test (NET) or U.P. State Level Eligibility Test (SET) or State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) as conducted by University Grants Commission (U.G.C.).

xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx"

The twin criteria specified as the eligibility, thus, was (a) the requirement of a 55 per cent score in a relevant subject at the Post Graduate Level or with a similar scoring in relation to grades wherever there is a grading system; and (b) passing marks in the National Eligibility Test (for short 'NET'), or U.P. State Level Eligibility Test (for short 'SET'), or State Level Eligibility Test (for short 'SLET') as conducted by UGC.

4. The controversy, which arose from the aforesaid was on two aspects: (a) would an M.Ed. Degree be treated as an equivalent degree to M.A. (Education) for the purposes of appointment to the post of Assistant Professor?, and (b) even if it was treated as an equivalent, could it be said that an M.Ed. is a post-graduation in the relevant subject?

5. In order to resolve the issues, respondent No. 2 constituted a four-member expert panel to render its opinion on the said subject. This panel consisted of four eminent persons: (i) Professor Bhoo Dev Singh, Professor and Dean of the Department of Education, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; (b) Professor P.C. Shukla, Department of Education, Banaras Hindu University; (c) Professor Amita Bhajpayee, Department of Education, Lucknow University; and (d) Professor P.K. Sahu, Department of Education, Allahabad University.

6. The opinion of the four experts was unanimous and was received with their inputs. Thus, according to Professor Bhoo Dev Singh, the test conducted for the NET/JRF (Junior Research Fellowship) certificate is the same for both students with an M.A. (Education) and an M.Ed. Degree - with the test being