L. NARASIMHA REDDY, J.

The petitioner herein issued notification dated 8.11.2011, inviting applications for the posts of Junior Stenographers of different categories in various departments. The 1st respondent (hereinafter referred to as 'the respondent') herein submitted an application for the post of Junior Stenographers in the A.P. Ministerial Services. The qualifications prescribed for the post are, that (a) a candidate must have passed in Intermediate Examination or its equivalent examination, (b) must have passed the Government Technical Examination in Typewriting Higher Grade in the relevant language, and (c) the Government Technical Examination in Shorthand Higher Grade in the relevant language. The respondent did not pass the Intermediate Examination. However, she obtained Post-graduation, i.e., M.A Degree in Public Administration, through distant mode from Madhurai Kamaraj University. A written test was held on 22.1.2012 and in the results, that were published on 05.5.2012, the name of the respondent figured in the list of selected candidates.

2. The petitioner did not appoint the respondent as Junior Stenographer, on the ground that she did not hold the prescribed qualification of pass in Intermediate Examination. The respondent, however, pleaded that she possesses the Post-graduation i.e. M.A. through distance mode, and since it is superior to the one, prescribed by the petitioner, she is entitled to be considered for appointment. Since her candidature was not considered, the respondent filed OA No. 4064 of 2012 before the A.P. Administrative Tribunal, Hyderabad, against the petitioner and respondents 2 and 3. Through its order dated 21.3.2013, the Tribunal allowed the O.A. Hence, this writ petition.

3. Sri G. Vivekanand, learned Counsel for the petitioner submits that the respondent did not hold the basic educational qualification, i.e., pass in Intermediate, and accordingly she was not eligible to apply at all. He submits that the M.A Degree, said to have been obtained by the respondent cannot be taken into account, inasmuch as it was obtained without passing Graduation, either through regular or distance mode. He has placed reliance upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in Annamalai University v. Secretary to Government, Information and Tourism Department and others, (2009) 4 SCC 590. Learned Counsel further submits that the Bachelor's Degrees obtained through Distance Education are taken into account only where the prescribed qualification is a Degree, if it required, and wherever it is obtained through distance education, it has been certified by the Distance Education Council. He submits that the order passed by the Tribunal is contrary to the judgment rendered by the Supreme Court.

4. Sri V. Madhusudan Rao, learned Counsel for the respondent, on the other hand, submits that his client has been permitted to appear in the written examination only on being satisfied that she fulfils the requisite qualification. He contends that the possession of a superior qualification cannot be a ground to deny appointment to the respondent, that too, after she has been found to have been selected, and scoring fairly good marks in the written test. He placed reliance upon a Division Bench judgment of this Court, in District Collector, Anantapur and others v. K. Sujatha, 2001 (4) ALD 158 (DB).

5. The area of controversy in this writ petition is in a narrow compass. It is only about the question as to whether the respondent possesses one of the prescribed qualifications, viz., pass in Intermediate Examination. For the post of Junior Stenographers in A.P. Ministerial Services, the notification has prescribed the following qualifications:

Name of the Post Educational Qualifications

Junior Stenographers (i) Must have passed Intermediate Examination or its

in A.P. Ministerial equivalent Examination.

Services

(ii) Must have passed the Government Technical

Examination in Typewriting by the Higher Grade in the

relevant language; an