JUDGMENT :

SANJEEV PRAKASH SHARMA, J.

1. Heard the parties.

2. By way of this writ petition the petitioner has prayed for a direction to the Bihar Public Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as “the B.P.S.C.”) to grant marks for M.Phil with NET as per Schedule-V of the advertisement and revise the merit of the petitioner accordingly by giving him 4 marks instead of 2 marks as given by the B.P.S.C.

3. The case was heard at length and the judgment was reserved whereafter written submission has been filed by both the petitioner and respondent-B.P.S.C.

4. Brief facts which require to be noted are that advertisements were issued for different posts of Assistant Professors in different Universities by the B.P.S.C. on the basis of requisition received from the Universities. The petitioner had applied against the Advertisement No. 50/2014 for the post of Assistant Professor (Hindi) wherein total number of vacancies were shown as 250. 126 vacancies were meant for open category (unreserved). The last date for submitting applications form was 20th November, 2014.

5. The advertisement laid down the education qualifications as under:

“Educational Qualification:

1. A candidate should have throughout good academic record with minimum 55% marks at the Master’s degree or equivalent (or equivalent grade). Relaxation of 5% marks for SC/ST candidate of State, while physically challenged persons from any part of the country will be relaxation of 5% marks at Master’s degree. But both benefits shall not be admissible to any such candidate.

2. A candidate must have passed NET/SET or equivalent test accredited to UGC.

3. The candidates who have obtained Ph.D Degree, shall be exempted from passing the National Eligibility Test.

4. NET/SET shall also not be required for such Master’s Programme disciplines for which NET/SET is not conducted.”

6. The selection process provided 15 marks for interview and 85 marks were to be given for educational qualification. The weightage for the educational qualifications was as Matriculation-10 marks, Intermediate-10 marks, Graduation-25 marks, Post Graduation-30 marks, Ph. D or M Phil- 10 marks, sub total 85 marks, interview was 15, total 100 marks. The candidate who was entitled to claim the benefit of either M. Phil or Ph. D but not for both. Schedule-V of the advertisement specified the marks allotted for Ph. D or M. Phil in following column:

Schedule-V

Marks for Ph.D or M.Phil

Note: Ph.D or M.Phil in the subject for the selection of the candidate will only be considered.

7. The question involved in the present petition is limited to the aforesaid aspect only, i.e., whether the petitioner was entitled to received 4 marks or 2 marks for his M. Phil qualification.

8. Case of the petitioner is that he obtained M. Phil qualification from the University of Delhi in 2013. The University certified that the M.Phil qualification of petitioner as per UGC Regulation 2009. A letter was issued on 17th March, 2016 by the Department of Education, Government of Bihar, clarifying and directing B.P.S.C. to accept M.Phil qualification granted by the University situated outside Bihar if the M.Phil qualification has been awarded after two years from the date of notification of UGC Regulation 2009, i.e., 17th July, 2009. The petitioner had passed M. Phil and had also cleared NET qualification in Hindi. A combined merit list of candidates was published wherein petitioner was placed at number 132 wherein the B.P.S.C. granted only 2 marks to the petitioner treati