The determination of essential educational qualifications and the equivalence of specific diplomas rests exclusively with the employer. A recruiting agency is legally bound by the employer’s clarifications and lacks the authority to independently challenge or override such determinations in the selection process.

JUDGMENT : (per Mr. SUBHASH UPADHYAY, J.)

This intra court appeal filed by the appellant/petitioners is directed against the judgment and order dated 01.09.2025 passed in Writ Petition No. 1218 (S/S) of 2024, Manali Chaudhary and others vs. State of Uttarakhand and others.

2. Facts in a nutshell relevant for the disposal of the instant appeal are as follows:

The Uttarakhand Public Service Commission (UKPSC) issued an advertisement on 08.01.2022 inviting applications for 78 posts of Sugar Cane Supervisor, however, the said recruitment was cancelled and on 01.11.2023, the Commission sought clarification from the Sugar Cane and Sugar Commissioner, Uttarakhand (employer) with regard to the anomaly it noted in respect to the educational qualification for the post of the sugarcane supervisor. A clarification was sought, that as per the service rules, the essential qualification for the post of Sugarcane Supervisor is two years diploma in agriculture but since after High school the Agriculture diploma (Agriculture Engineering) is of three years whether the three years diploma would be valid or not?

The aforesaid query made by the Uttarakhand Public Service Commission reads as follows:

“ç’uxr in dh l sok fu;ekoyh esa 'kSf{kd ;ksX;rk d s varxZr ^^fdlh ekU;rk çkIr laLFkk dk —f"k esa nks o"kZ dk fMIyksek j[krk gS^^] dk mYys[k fd;k x;k gSA tcfd dfri; vH;fFkZ;ksa }kjk i= ¼Nk;kçfr l ayXu½ d s ek/;e l s voxr djk;k gS fd gkbZLd wy d s ckn ,xzhdYpj fMIyksek ¼,xzhdYpj bathfu;fjax½ rhu lky dk gksrk gSA vr% bl l aca/k esa fLFkfr Li"V djr s gq, l wpuk visf{kr gS fd 03 o"khZ; fMIyksek ekU; gS vFkok ughaA”

3. The employer responded to the said query and vide letter dated 25.11.2023, replied that though the qualification mentioned in the rules is of two years diploma in Agriculture, however as the Uttarakhand Technical Education Board is providing three years diploma in Agriculture Engineering, as such, two years diploma or three years diploma is legally permissible. The reply of the employer reads as follows:

“çLrj d s lEcU/k esa ;|fi fdlh vH;FkhZ dk çkFkZuk i= miyC/k ugh a djk;k x;k gS rFkkfi mÙkjk[k.M xUuk i;Zos{kd ¼lewg rhu½ l sok fu;e 2006 ipkl a'kksf/kr mÙkjk[k.M xUuk i;Zos{kd lewg rhu ¼l a'kks/ku½ l sok fu;ekoyh 2007 ds fu;e 08 ¼2½ ¼[k½ esa 'kSf{kd ;ksX;rk ^^fdlh ekU;rk çkIr laLFkk dk —f"k esa nks o"kZ dk fMIyksek j[krk gks^^ gSA

KkrO; gS fd mÙkjk[k.M çkfof/kd f'k{kk ifj"kn }kjk —f"k bathfu;fjax esa 02 o"kZ ds LFkku ij 03 o"kZ dk fMIyksek fn;k tk jgk gSA ,slh fLFkfr esa fdlh ekU;rk çkIr l aLFkk dk —f"k esa nks o"kZ vFkok rhu o"kZ dk fMIyksek ekU; fd;k tkuk fof/k lEer gSA”

4. The Uttarakhand Public Service Commission, however, issued an advertisement on 14.12.2023, inviting applications for 13 vacancies of State Milk Supervisor and 78 vacancies of Sugar Cane Supervisor and the educational qualifications prescribed therefor was Diploma/Polytechnic. The petitioners in the writ petition applied for the post of Sugarcane Supervisor and were issued the admit cards and on the basis of their performance in the written examination were selected and thereafter were called for documents verification but were declared in-illegible owing to their having diploma of three years in Agriculture Engineering.

5. It is the case of the petitioners/appellants that the rejection of their case is arbitrary and illegal as they possessed the requisite qualifications and wer