IMPORTANT POINT
The court affirmed that the employer has the exclusive authority to prescribe qualifications for a post, and the Tribunal cannot assess equivalence of qualifications in judicial review.

ORDER :

(Sanjay K. Agrawal, J.)

1. Invoking the writ jurisdiction of this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner herein has filed this writ petition calling in question legality, validity and correctness of judgment & order dated 19-10-2023 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Jabalpur Bench, Circuit Sitting: Bilaspur in Original Application No.203/00018/2022, by which the learned Tribunal has allowed the original application filed by the respondent herein directing the petitioner herein to appoint the applicant/respondent on the post of Junior Engineer (AC&R) in AIIMS, Raipur finding that the respondent has essential qualification for the said post of Junior Engineer (AC&R).

2. The aforesaid challenge has been made on the following factual backdrop: -

3. The petitioner – All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Raipur issued vacancy notice dated 25-1-2014 for four posts of Junior Engineer (AC&R) and essential qualification for the said post was 3-Years Diploma in Mechanical Engineering plus a course in Refrigeration & Air Conditioning from a recognised Polytechnic/Institute in which the respondent also participated without demur or protest or without challenge to the vacancy notification and he was allowed to appear in the written test wherein he secured 132 marks out of 196 and thereafter, ten candidates including the respondent herein were called for document verification, but in the document verification, the respondent was found not having any certificate in the specialised course in Refrigeration & Air Conditioning from any recognised Polytechnic/Institute, therefore, he was not selected/appointed leading to filing of original application after withdrawing writ petition from the High Court in which the sole ground of the respondent was, he had done 4-Years of Bachelor of Engineering degree programme in Mechanical Engineering and he had studied a dedicated specialised course of Refrigeration & Air Conditioning in 8th Semester of 6 months duration which is equivalent to the essential qualification prescribed for the post i.e. 3-Years Diploma in Mechanical Engineering plus a course in Refrigeration & Air Conditioning from a recognised Polytechnic/ Institute, therefore, he is eligible to be selected and he has wrongly been screened from the said post and accordingly, he is entitled for selection and appointment on the post of Junior Engineer (AC&R) which was finally allowed by the Tribunal by the impugned order dated 19-10-2023.

4. The petitioner AIIMS has filed return before the Central Administrative Tribunal stating inter alia that the respondent did not have the essential qualification for the post of Junior Engineer (AC&R) as the prescribed qualification was 3-Years Diploma in Mechanical Engineering plus a course in Refrigeration & Air Conditioning from a recognised Polytechnic/Institute and he had studied 4 years of Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical which cannot be held to be the essential qualification for the post of Junior Engineer (AC&R), therefore, the respondent was not having the essential qualification for the said post of Junior Engineer (AC&R) and power, authority and jurisdiction to assess the qualification is vested with the employer and the Tribunal has assumed the role of employer and wrongly came to a conclusion that the respondent studied 4 years of Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical which includes specialised course of Refrigeration & Air Conditioning, as such, the respondent did not have the essential qualification for the post of Junior Engineer (AC&R).

5. The learned Tribunal by its impugned order, allowed the original application holding that the respondent is having more satisfactory qualification than what was asked for in the notification for the said post, as the respondent was admittedly having the certificate of 4 years of Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical which is higher qualification as compared to the essential qualification as s