The court emphasized that qualifications prescribed in the rules for appointment should be the basis for considering a candidate's eligibility, and rejection based on conflicting advertisement qualifications is unjustified.

T.H.B.Chalapathi, J.

1. The petitioner is seeking issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to consider his case for the post of Social Studies Master and give him appointment on the post of Social Studies Master after declaring him eligible and and qualified for the said post.

2. The Director of Secondary Education, Haryana advertised 269 posts of Social Studies Masters on Juiy 29, 1991 out of which 55 posts were reserved for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes. The petitioner belongs to Scheduled Caste. According to the petitioner, he was fully qualified for appointment but his case was not considered by the respondents on the ground that he was not eligible for being considered for the appointment. Therefore the petitioner approached this Court for issuance of a writ of mandamus.

3. In the written statement filed by the Assistant Director, Masters Establishment, office of the Director of Secondary Education, Haryana, it is mentioned that the petitioner did not possess the prescribed educational qualifications for the post of Social Studies Master on the last date of applications as per the advertisement dated 29.7.1991. Therefore, the petitioners case is rightly not considered.

4. It is therefore, to be seen whether the petitioner is qualified for being considered for the post of Social Studies Master. There is no dispute that an advertisement was issued on 29.7.1991 calling for applications to fill up the posts of Social Studies Masters in various schools in the state of Haryana. The qualifications for the post of Social Studies Master prescribed are as follows:

1. B.A. Education from Government College of Education, Kuruk- shetra with any two of the following subjects in addition to English: - i) History, (ii) Political Science, (iii) Economics, iv) Geography (v) Sociology. OR B.A. with English and any two of the above mentioned subjects with B.T/B.Ed. from recognised University, OR M.A. in one of the subjects mentioned above with B.T/B.Ed. from recognised University.

It is also mentioned that the eligibility conditions were to be determined as on 10.8.1991, the last date of receipt of the applications and it is specifically mentioned that no additional qualification acquired after 10.8.1991 would be considered for the purpose of this recruitment. The Punjab Education Service Class- III School Cadre Rules, 1995 which have been adopted by the State of Haryana prescribe the qualifications of B.A. M.A./M.Sc. S.S.T.C. or B.T., Senior basic Trained, for the post of Social Studies Master. It is mentioned in the written statement that the petitioner possessed the following qualifications on the date of submission of his application: B.A./B.E4. with the following subjects in B A. (Graduation):

(i) English (ii) Hindi (iii) Philosophy (iv) Geography.

5. According to the petitioner, he passed his Matriculation examination in the year 1984 and obtained B.A. part III degree in the year 1988 with English, Hindi, History, Economics, Philosophy and Geography. According to him, he also obtained M.Sc. degree in Geography in October, 1991. He also obtained B.Ed, degree in the year 1989.

6. The learned counsel for the petitioner contended that as he was Graduate with Geography and also a Bachelor in Education on the date of submission of the application, he is eligible to be appointed as a Social Studies Master. In the Punjab Education Service Class-Ill School Cadre Rules, 1955, the educational qualifications required for appointment to the post of S.S. Master is only B.A. or M.A./M.Sc. SSTC or B.T. Senior basic Trained. The petitioner possess the degree of B.A. and also Bachelor Degree in teaching. Therefore, the petitioner fulfilled the qualifications as prescribed in the rules for appointment. The qualifications prescribed in the advertisement issued for filling up the posts of S.S. Masters is contrary to the rules. The rules do not provide that the candidate must be a graduate with any of the two subjects nam