JUDGMENT :

Sandeep V. Marne J.

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. With the consent of parties, taken up for final hearing.

2. By this petition, Petitioner assails the order dated 7th October, 2020 issued by the respondent-Bank cancelling his candidature for appointment on the post of Generalist Officer, Scale-II. The cancellation of candidature is done on account of petitioner not fulfilling the essential qualification of 60% marks in Bachelor’s Degree in aggregate of all semesters/years.

3. Shorn of unnecessary details, the facts of the case are that Recruitment Notification issued by the respondent-Bank for recruitment inter-alia to the post of Generalist Officer, Scale-II on 10th December, 2019 requiring essential qualification of Bachelor’s Degree in any discipline with knowledge in Computers, with a caveat that candidate must secure minimum of 60% marks in Bachelor’s Degree in aggregate of all semesters/years. Petitioner possesses qualification of Diploma in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering and on the strength of such a diploma, he secured lateral entry to second year of Bachelor of Engineering and completed the course. He applied in pursuance of the Notification and appeared for online examination and qualified the same. He thereafter applied for personal interview/group discussion and came to be selected and was issued with a provisional offer of employment dated 27th July, 2020. One of the conditions of provisional offer was to seek a discharge from previous employer. Petitioner was employed in Axis Bank since 26th August, 2019 and tendered resignation on 27th July, 2020 with a view to join respondent-Bank. His resignation was accepted and he was relieved by Axis Bank on 25th August, 2020. On the same day, office order dated 25th August, 2020 was issued by the respondent-Bank, by which Petitioner came to be appointed and posted to Nashik Zone. It is averred that on 10th September, 2020, when he reported to the Zonal Manager, Nashik Zone, he was orally informed that his candidature was cancelled on account of non-fulfillment of eligibility criteria. By order dated 7th October, 2020, his candidature came to be cancelled on the ground of non-fulfillment of minimum 60% marks in Bachelor’s Degree in aggregate of all semesters/years. Order dated 7th October, 2020 is the subject matter of challenge in the present petition.

4. Appearing for the petitioner, Ms. Gayatri Singh the learned Senior Advocate would contend that the aggregate marks scored by petitioner in Diploma Course and Degree Course are required to be taken into consideration. She would submit that since the petitioner underwent Diploma Course, he was given direct admission to Second Year of the Degree Course. As he completed only three years of Degree Course, he did not have the advantage of scoring marks in respect of 8 semesters/four years. It is on this count, she would urge that the marks obtained by him in 6 Semesters of Diploma Course are also required to be taken into consideration. Inviting our attention to the Chart produced by the petitioner at Exhibit-K, Ms. Singh would demonstrate that while petitioner secured aggregate marks of 57.82% in Degree Course, upon consideration of marks scored in Diploma Course, the aggregate percentage would rise to 60.34. Ms. Singh would therefore contend that he fulfilled the essential criteria of scoring 60% aggregate marks in all semesters/years. She would rely upon the judgment of the Delhi High Court in the case of Moninder Singh V/s. Union of India & Anr in Writ Petition (C) No. 7389/2008 dated 3rd May, 2010. She would also rely on the judgment of the Apex Court in Asha Kaul (Mrs.) and Another V/s. State of Jammu and Kashmir and Others, (1993) 2 SCC 573.

5. Per-contra, Mr. Vaidya the learned Counsel appearing for the respondent-bank would oppose the petition and support the order rejecting petitioner’s candidature. He would submit that 60% minimum marks in Bachelor’s Degree was an essential qualificatio