The main legal point established was that qualifications obtained through correspondence courses must adhere to the UGC Regulations and the specific service rules applicable to the employees' organization.

1. By this writ petition, the petitioners have prayed for quashing the Government Order, being G.O. Ms. No.107, Personnel & Administrative Reforms Department, dated 18th Aug., 2009, and further to direct the 1st respondent, namely, the Registrar General, High Court, Madras, to consider the petitioners for promotion to the post of Assistant, Assistant Section Officer, etc., on the basis of the educational qualifications obtained by them.

2. The petitioners’ case in brief is that all of them joined the service as Office Assistant, except the 2nd petitioner, who joined as Record Clerk. The service particulars of the petitioners as described in the writ petition are as under :- Sl. No. Name of the Petitioner Date of Entry Date of Promotion Promoted Post

1. First Petitioner 15.06.1995 28.03.2007 Reader / Examiner

2. Second Petitioner 22.09.2003 02.04.2007 Reader / Examiner

3. Third Petitioner 18.08.2001 28.03.2007 Reader / Examiner

4. Fourth Petitioner 21.08.2001 30.03.2007 Reader / Examiner

5. Fifth Petitioner 08.09.1999 05.03.2007 Assistant

3. The petitioners’ case is that the petitioners 1 to 3 and 5 have obtained B.A. degree from the University of madras and Annamalai University, whereas the 4th petitioner has obtained B.B.A. degree from the University of Madras. At the time of their initial appointment as Office Assistant and Record Clerk, the petitioners were having qualifications of SSLC, Plus One and I.T.I (N.C.V.T.) and the same was obtained by them before joining the service and the same has also been entered in the service register. It is further submitted that the 2nd and 3rd petitioners had completed their degree course even prior to their appointment, while the 1st and 5th petitioners, after joining the service, obtained permission from the Registry for doing the course, which they completed successfully. The 4th petitioner had joined the degree course for the year 1999-2002, which is before his appointment, but on joining the service, he applied for permission for continuing his degree course, which was accordingly granted. In a nutshell, the petitioners’ case is that they have obtained their degrees before 2002 and are entitled to get promotion on the basis of their qualification.

4. According to the petitioners, although they are entitled to be considered for promotion as per UGC Regulations, they have been denied promotion because of G.O. No.107 dated 18th Aug., 2009, which inter alia provides that those degrees issued by the Open University shall only be recognized and accepted for appointment and promotion provided the said degree has been obtained after completing +2 (Higher Secondary) Examination.

5. Indisputably all the petitioners have obtained B.A./B.B.A. degree through correspondence course, but they have not completed +2 course (Higher Secondary).

6. Mr.Vijay Narayan, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioners firstly drawn our attention to the different provisions of the High Court Rules and submitted that the promotion avenue to the post of Assistant in Category-6 is from Category 7, 8 and 9, namely, Typist, Reader/Examiner/Proof Reader/Copyist/Chief Operator (Photostat Machines), etc. The rule further provides that the requisite qualification for promotion to the post of Assistant is B.Sc. or B.Com. or any other Bachelor’s Degree of the Madras University or equivalent thereof of a recognized University.

7. Learned counsel further submitted that the University Grants Commission (for short “UGC”) framed the University Grants Commission (the Minimum Standards of instructions for the Grant of the First Degree through Non-formal/Distance Education in the faculties of Arts, Humanities, Fine Arts, Music, Social Sciences, Commerce and Sciences) Regulations, 1985 (for short “1985 Regulations”) in the year 1985 regarding the minimum standard of instructions for the grant of first degree through non-formal/distance education. Referring to Regulation 2, learned senior counsel submitted that al