The court affirmed that establishing equivalence of educational qualifications is the prerogative of the recruiting authority and must strictly adhere to specified criteria for eligibility.

ORDER :

1. Petitioner has filed this petition seeking following relief:-

“10.1. Issue a writ of Certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction quashing and setting aside the arbitrary and illegal action of the Respondents in disqualifying the petitioner from the post of Clinical Psychologist & for the post of Counsellor Psychiatry pursuant to Advertisement No. 02/2025 dated 22.04.2025.

10.2. Issue a writ of Mandamus directing the Respondent authorities to reconsider the candidature of the Petitioner strictly in accordance with the eligibility criteria prescribed in Advertisement No.02/2025 without applying any unwritten or extraneous consideration.

10.3. Issue a further writ of Mandamus directing the Respondents to permit the Petitioner to appear in the interview for the post of Clinical Psychologist & counsellor Psychiatry, subject to the final outcome of the writ petition.

10.4. Issue a writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ or direction, directing the Respondent authorities to keep 01 (one) seat each for the post of Clinical Psychologist and Counselor Psychiatry vacant/reserved during the pendency of the present petition, to ensure the Petitioner’s right to appointment is not frustrated by the completion of recruitment process.

10.5. Pass any other writ, order/direction as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case, in interest of justice.”

2. Facts relevant for disposal of this petition, in brief, are that pursuant to advertisement dated 22.4.2025, Annexure P-1, issued by respondent No.2 inviting applications for appointment on various posts including of Clinical Psychologist and Counselor Psychiatry. In pursuance of aforesaid advertisement, petitioner online submitted application form being qualified for the posts of Clinical Psychologist and Counselor Psychiatry. Communication dated 9.10.2025 was issued calling upon petitioner to produce all relevant documents for verification on scheduled date and pursuant thereto, petitioner appeared before respondent concerned and produced all original documents including educational testimonials. After verification of documents, list of shortlisted candidates was published on 31.12.2025, but petitioner was not shortlisted for interview, which led to filing of this writ petition.

3. Learned counsel for petitioner submits that petitioner has done his Masters in Psychology with specialization papers in Clinical Psychology, from a recognized University and as such, he is having requisite qualification of post-graduation in clinical psychology, therefore, petitioner cannot be debarred from participating in the process of selection for appointment on the post of Clinical Psychologist and Counselor Psychiatry.

4. He submits that the universities in the State of Chhattisgarh do not offer a post-graduate course or degree in the stream ‘M.A. Clinical Psychology’ and they uniformly award post- graduate degree in Psychology under the nomenclature ‘M.A. (Psychology). He further submits that various District Health Societies within the State including AIIMS are recognizing master’s degree in Psychology as an essential qualification for the post of Counselor. Hence, declaring the petitioner, who is having Post Graduate Degree in Psychology, with specialization papers in Clinical Psychology, ineligible is violative of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.

5. He next contended that without affording opportunity of heari