The court emphasized that the equivalence of qualifications is in the exclusive domain of the recruiting authority and cannot be determined through judicial review.

JUDGMENT :

1. All writ petitions are based on similar set of facts and an identical issue has been raised therein, therefore, with consent of counsel for both parties, all writ petitions were tagged and have been heard together. This common judgment would decide all writ petitions.

2. The issue which has come up for consideration before this Court is as to whether the candidature of writ petitioners for the post of Assistant Professor (Business Administration) in recruitment-2020 has wrongly been rejected by the RPSC and petitioners on the basis of qualification of Master in Business Administration (MBA) are eligible for appointment on the post of Assistant Professor (Business Administration) in College Education Department, under the Rajasthan Education Service (Collegiate Branch) Rules, 1986 (hereinafter referred to as “Service Rules, 1986”).

3. For the sake of convenience, facts from SBCWP No.122/2023: Bhumika Rathore Vs. State of Rajasthan, have been taken for consideration.

4. The relevant facts, in brief, are that the Rajasthan Public Service Commission, Ajmer (for short “RPSC”) vide advertisement dated 18.12.2020, notified vacancies for the post of Assistant Professor to be directly recruited under the Rules of 1986 to be appointed in College Education. Petitioner is concerned with the post of Assistant Professor (Business Administration) for which 127 posts were notified in the advertisement and, the eligibility for the post in question as per Service Rules, 1986 is indicated in the advertisement itself, which reads as under:-

^^mDr lHkh inksa ds fy, 'kS{kf.kd ;ksX;rk,a ¼jktLFkku f'k{kk lsok¼egkfo|ky; 'kk[kk½ fu;e] 1986 dh vuqlwph&1 ds fcŒlaŒ 8 ds vuqlkj½ %&

1. (I) Good academi(or an equiint scale wherever grading system is followed at the Master’s Degree level in the relevant subject from an India University, or an equivalent degree from an accredited foreign university.

(ii) Besides fulfilling the above qualifications, the candidate must have cleared the National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by the UGC, CSIR, or similar test accredited by the UGC like SLET/SET.

(iii) Candidates, who are, or have been awarded a Ph.D. Degree in accordance with the University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of Ph.D. Degree) Regulations, 2009, shall be exempted from the requirement of the minimum eligibility condition of NET/SLET/SET for recruitment and appointment of Assistant Professor.

(iv) NET/SLET/SET shall also not be required for such masters programmes in disciplines for which NET/SLET/SET is not conducted.” (underline is mine)

5. Petitioner states to possess the qualification of Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and UGC NET in the subject of management. Petitioner applied for the post of Assistant Professor (Business Administration) with the understanding that degree of MBA is relevant subject of Master’s degree, required for the post in question and she also qualified UGC NET in “Management”, therefore, she fulfills the requisite eligibility/qualification for the post. Petitioner appeared in the written examination and was shortlisted for interview/document verification. At that stage, candidature of petitioner was rejected by the RPSC vide order dated 19.12.2022 (Ann-1), on two counts:

(i) As per advertisement, Masters degree in relevant subject (Business Administration) is an essential qualification and petitioner does not possess the Masters degree in the Commerce stream; and

(ii) Petitioner does not possess the requisite certificate of NET/SLET/SET or Ph.D. in the relevant subject of Business Administration/Commerce.

6. It appears that the RPSC while not accepting the qualification of MBA and UGC NET in management, to be included in the requisite qualification for the post in question, relied upon the report of Expert Committee dated 15.03.2017 (Ann-3), forwarded by the Commissioner, College Education to RPSC, through letter dated 26.05.2017 (Ann-4). In the report of expert and the letter, it wa