JUDGEMENT :

Pankaj Bhatia, J.

1. Questions arising and framed in the following three orders are referred to this Bench for its considerations: (i) order dated 29.11.2018 passed in Writ – A No. 24273 of 2018 (Deepak Singh And 9 others vs. State of U.P. and 8 others), (ii) order dated 12.1.2009 passed in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 671 of 2009 (Ajay Kumar Singh vs. State of U.P. and another) and (iii) order dated 15.2.2019 passed in Special Appeal No. 09 of 2019 (Himan Singh vs. State of U.P. and 8 others).

2. In Writ A No. 24273 of 2018, the learned Single Judge was confronted with the question as to whether degree holders in Engineering Discipline would be eligible for seeking appointment to the post of Junior Engineer and Foreman wherein the essential eligibility criteria specified, was “Diploma Holders in Engineering Discipline”. The learned Single Judge took note of the fact that the Commission issued a Notification for selection of Junior Engineers and Foreman, the advertisement specified the eligibility for selection to the post of Junior Engineers and Foreman as “Diploma Holders in Engineering Discipline”. The petitioners, in the said petition, were admittedly degree holders in Engineering and agitated that they have been wrongly ousted as being degree holders in Engineering, they were higher than diploma holders in Engineering Discipline and as such they ought to have been considered as eligible. The Commission had cited before the learned Single Judge that this Court, in Service Single No. 6655 of 2016 (Alok Kumar Mishra vs. State of U.P.) and as affirmed by a Division Bench in Special Appeal No. 229 of 2016 (Kartikey vs. State of U.P.) to buttress the proposition that the degree holders were rightly ousted.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner, therein, on the other hand, had argued that the said two judgments relied upon by the Commission should be held as not having laid down the correct proposition of law, in the light of the decision of the Supreme Court in case of Parvaiz Ahmad Parry vs. State of Jammu & Kashmir, 2016 (1) ESC 54 (SC).

4. Learned Single Judge, in his referring order dated 29.11.2018, held that the decision in the case of Alok Kumar Mishra vs. State of U.P. relied upon the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Jyoti K.K. And others vs. Kerala Public Service Commission and others, 2010 15 SCC 596. The said judgment, rendered in the case of Alok Kumar Mishra (supra), was upheld in an appeal in the case of Kartikey vs. State of U.P. and was also upheld in Special Leave to Appeal (Civil) No. 17219 of 2016. The learned Single Judge noted the argument of learned counsel for the petitioner that the judgment of the Hon'ble apex Court in the case of Parvaiz Ahmad Parry was a clear authority for the proposition that a higher qualification cannot be viewed as disqualification and consequently it must be held that the degree holders cannot be ousted. Learned Single Judge further recorded that in the case of Parvaiz Ahmad Parry the question raised before the Supreme Court was whether a person who is holding a degree of M.Sc. in forestry would be eligible to apply for a post where the minimum requirement was B.Sc. in the subject concerned.

5. In the backdrop of the judgment of the Apex Court in the case of Parvaiz Ahmad Parry vs. State of Jammu & Kashmir and others, the learned Single Judge referred the matter to the present larger Bench framing the following questions:

A. Whether a Degree in the field in question is entitled to be viewed as a higher qualification when compared to a Diploma in that field?

B. Whether the decisions in Alok Kumar Mishra and Kartikey lay down the correct position in law when they hold that a Degree holder is excluded from the zone of consideration for appointment as a Junior Engineer?

C. Whether a degree holder can be held to be ineligible to participate in a selection process for Junior Engineer in light of the relevant statutory rules?

D. Whether the exclusion of degree holders f