The court recognized the validity of degrees obtained through distance mode from a state university, ruling that discriminatory treatment against similarly qualified candidates violates constitutional rights.

ORDER :

Since the lis in these writ petitions is one and the same, they are heard together, and are being disposed of by way of this common order.

2. These Writ Petitions are filed seeking to declare the action of respondent Nos.2 to 4 in not considering the Master’s Degree of the petitioners obtained from the Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur District, through distance mode, for their appointment to the post of Librarian under the control of respondent Nos.3 and 4, by referring to the Public Notice No.F.27-1/2012 (CPP-II) dated 27.06.2013, as illegal, arbitrary, bad in law, discriminatory, apart from being violative of Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution of India, and also Section 95 of the ANDHRA PRADESH RE-ORGANIZATION ACT , 2014, and consequently, to direct the respondents to consider the candidature of the petitioners for appointment to the post of Librarian, duly recognizing their Master’s Degree, by declaring that the Public Notice dated 27.06.2013 is inapplicable to the petitioners.

3. Heard Sri Goda Siva, learned Senior Counsel, appearing for the petitioners in W.P.No.25837 of 2024; Sri M.V. Rama Rao, learned counsel for the petitioners in W.P.No.25531 of 2024; Sri P. Rama Sharana Sharma, learned counsel for the petitioners in W.P.No.24496 of 2024; learned Government Pleader for Services-I, appearing on behalf of respondent Nos.1, 3 and 4; Sri P.S. Rajasekhar, learned Standing Counsel for Telangana Public Service Commission, for respondent No.2; and Sri G. Vidya Sagar, learned Senior Counsel, representing Sri Sai Prasen Gundavaram, learned counsel for the unofficial respondent Nos.5 to 13. Although Sri Mohd. Baseer Riyaz, learned counsel, filed vakalath on behalf of the petitioners in W.P.No.25837 of 2024 on 11.09.2025, the matter had already been argued by the earlier learned counsel and it was posted for orders. In view thereof, this Court has proceeded to pass orders on the basis of the arguments already advanced.

4.1 Sri Goda Siva, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners in W.P.No.25837 of 2024, submits that Acharya Nagarjuna University is a State University established in the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh under Act 43 of 1976, and as a part of its curriculum, the University started providing undergraduate and postgraduate programmes through distance mode by establishing study centers in different parts of the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh. Subsequently, after bifurcation, the study centers continued to operate and the University was enrolling the candidates belonging to the State of Telangana and was awarding them certificates/degrees. Likewise, the petitioners have prosecuted their Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science from Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur District, through its study centers situated in Telangana, during the years 2017 to 2022, and the said Degrees are also duly recognized by the University Grants Commission and the Distance Education Bureau.

4.2 It is submitted that respondent No.2 issued a General Recruitment Notification vide Notification No.30/2022 dated 31.12.2022, inviting applications for the post of Librarian under the control of respondent Nos.3 and 4. In pursuance thereof, the petitioners, being fully qualified, applied for the said post, appeared and qualified in the written examination, and their names were also shown in the list of selected candidates, and they were accordingly called for certificate verification. However, respondent No.2 has orally refused to consider the candidature of the petitioners, on the ground that the Master’s Degrees of the petitioners were obtained from the study centers of Acharya Nagarjuna University, which are allegedly deemed as outside territorial jurisdiction, as per the Public Notice of the University Grants Commission dated 27.06.2013.

4.3 Learned Senior Counsel further submits