The court upheld the constitutionality of recruitment rules limiting Junior Engineer positions to diploma holders, determining that excluding higher qualification holders does not violate constitutional principles.

JUDGMENT :

ASHUTOSH KUMAR, ACJ.

1. The petitioners, all of whom have qualification of B.Tech (Civil) from Institutions recognized by All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE) have challenged the constitutionality of Rule 8(1)(ii) and (iii) of the Bihar Water Resource Department Subordinate Engineering (Civil) Cadre Recruitment Rules 2023 (to be referred to as “2023 rules” hereinafter) which has prescribed diploma or equivalent in Civil /Mechanical/Electrical engineering as the qualification for appointment to the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) on the ground of the same being arbitrary, irrational and unconstitutional.

2. The issues raised here are not new and have been discussed in many of the judgments of this Court as also of the Supreme Court.

3. To have a clear understanding of the nature of challenge by the petitioners, it would, albeit, be necessary to briefly refer to the earlier rule in this regard.

4. The Bihar Water Resource Department Subordinate Engineering (Civil) Cadre Recruitment Rules, 2015 provided that for Junior Engineer (Civil), the qualification would be diploma or equivalent qualification holder in Civil Engineering. The technical qualification/eligibility for selection was (a) diploma or equivalent qualification in Civil Engineering issued by the institutes recognized by the AICTE which has obtained recognition from the State Technical Board or; (b) non distance mode diploma in Civil Engineering or equivalent qualification issued by the deemed University under the UGC Act.

5. Prior to the coming to this Rule, in the year 2014, Bihar Rural Development Society, Rural Development Department, Bihar, Patna had invited applications for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) on contractual basis stipulating that persons having degree/diploma from recognized Institutions would be eligible for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil). It was also stipulated in the aforenoted advertisement that for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil), persons having degree qualification would be granted twenty bonus marks.

6. Under the 2015 Rules, referred to above, a separate cadre of Junior Engineers was created under the administrative control of Water Resources Department. The 2015 Rules were amended and certain provisions related to technical qualification for selection as well as procedure for selection and preparation of merit list were changed vide Bihar Water Resources Department Subordinate Engineering (Civil) Cadre Recruitment (Amendment) Rules, 2017 (to be referred to as “2017 Rules” hereinafter). The amended rules of 2017 clearly stipulated that the technical qualification / eligibility for selection to the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) would be: (a) diplma holders in Civil Engineering from the institutes recognized by AICTE and also; (b) diploma in Civil Engineering by non-distance mode diploma from deemed University established under UGC Act, provided that their syllabus of diploma in Civil Engineering has been sanctioned by the UGC. The procedure for selection also was stipulated.

7. Under the aforenoted rules of 2017, an Advertisement No. 1 of 2019 dated 08.03.2019 was issued by Bihar Technical Service Commission, Patna, inviting applications for regular appointments to the post of Junior Engineer (Civil/Mechanical/Electrical) in different departments of the Govt. of Bihar. The technical qualification / eligibility was in accordance with the amended rules of 2017, namely, that