JUDGMENT :

Ashutosh Kumar, J.

Heard Sri Lalit Kishore, learned Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Satyabir Bharti, learned Advocate for the appellants/Bihar Public Service Commission and Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, learned Advocate for the respondent No.1/Nitu Kumari.

2. The challenge in this appeal is to the judgment dated 14.08.2020 passed by a learned Single Judge of this Court in CWJC No. 7905 of 2019, whereby the case of the respondent No.1 was allowed and the appellant/Commission has been directed to consider the name of the respondent No.1 for appointment on the post of Assistant Professor in Hindi subject under Advertisement No. 50/14 after considering her Ph.D. degree in Hindi subject to be as per the UGC (Minimum Standards & Procedures for Awards of M.Phil./Ph.D. Degree) Regulation 2009 (herein after called “the UGC Ph.D. Regulation 2009”), as also taking into account the fact that the respondent stood exempted from passing the NET/SET.

3. Some facts would be necessary to appreciate the contention of the appellant/Commission, which are as follows:

4. The appellant/Commission had issued an Advertisement No. 50/14, inviting applications for filling up the vacancies of the post of Assistant Professors of different subjects; against which advertisement the respondent No.1 had applied for the post of Assistant Professor in Hindi subject.

5. In the advertisement, only such persons were declared to be qualified to apply who had good academic record with minimum of 55% marks in M.A. or equivalent grade, with relaxation of 5% marks for SC/ST candidate of the State. Differently abled persons from any part of the country were given relaxation of 5% marks at Masters. The candidates were, however, to elect between the two benefits admissible to them. The other eligibility requirement of eligibility in the advertisement was that the candidate ought to have passed NET/SET or any equivalent test accredited by UGC.

6. Any person having obtained Ph.D. degree on the basis of the UGC Ph.D. Regulation 2009 framed by UGC for M.Phil./Ph.D. degrees would but be exempted from passing the NET. The requirement of NET/SET was also not a condition for such Masters Programme in disciplines for which NET/SET is not conducted.

7. The respondent No.1, a Ph.D. degree holder in Hindi literature from Ranchi University, awarded in the year 2012, had applied against the aforesaid advertisement. The Ranchi University had issued a certificate on 21.10.2014 that the Ph.D. degree awarded to the respondent No.1 was in accordance with the Ph.D. Regulation of Ranchi University which is in consonance with the UGC Ph.D. Regulation 2009.

8. A list of 3393 candidates was published including that of the respondent No.1 but as against her status, it was declared that she had not passed NET but was a Ph.D. in Hindi with the UGC Ph.D. Regulation 2009. She was thus found eligible.

9. On 15.05.2018, the appellant/Commission had issued a communication/notice, making a departure from the conditions in Advertisement No. 50/2014, referred to above, and required the eligible candidates claiming to have obtained Ph.D./M.Phil. under UGC Ph.D. Regulation 2009, to produce, at the time of interview, pre Ph.D. certificate and mark-sheet as also certificates declaring details of criteria on which the Ph.D./M.Phil. examination was passed by such candidate. If such certificates would not be produced, the Ph.D./M.Phil. qualification would not be considered as one obtained in terms of UGC Ph.D. Regulation 2009 and less marking would be done accordingly.

10. The respondent No.1 was called for interview on 20.06.2018. At the time of interview, the respondent No.1 had shown to the appellant/Commission a certificate of the Ranchi University dated 04.06.2018 declaring that her Ph.D. degree was in consonance with the UGC Ph.D. Regulation 2009. The mode of award of the degree was regular; the thesis was evaluated by two external examiners; there was open viva-voce; she had published two papers out of which one was i