Higher qualifications cannot be treated as equivalent to prescribed essential qualifications in the absence of a specific statutory rule or enabling provision in the recruitment advertisement, and such equivalence cannot be determined through judicial review.

JUDGMENT

Uttarakhand Board of Technical Education issued advertisement dated 08.02.2014, whereby applications were invited for appointment to various Group-C posts in different State Departments. Petitioner applied for the post of Vyavasthapak (Manager) in Government Estate Department. The essential qualification, required for appointment on the post of Vyavasthapak, are as follows:-

a) Bachelors Degree from a recognized University in India.

b) Diploma in Catering and Hotel Management from an institute recognized by the Government.

It is not in dispute that petitioners do not possess Diploma in Catering and Hotel Management. They instead possess Bachelors Degree in Hospitality and Hotel Administration from Indira Gandhi National Open University, except petitioner no. 4, who possesses Bachelors Degree in Hotel Management and Catering Technology from HNB Garhwal University and petitioner nos. 5 & 6, who possess Bachelors Degree in Hotel Management and Catering Technology from Uttarakhand Technical University, Dehradun. Candidature of the petitioners was rejected on the ground that they do not possess the essential qualification needed for appointment.

The relief sought in the writ petition is as follows:-

“i) issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding and directing the respondents to select the petitioners as Vyawasthapak considering them qualified for the post of Vyawasthapak.”

Petitioners contend that they possess a qualification, which is higher than Diploma, therefore, their claim for appointment could not have been rejected when a lower qualification makes a candidate eligible for appointment. It is further contended that the course content of Diploma and Degree courses is the same, inasmuch as whatever topics are included in the syllabus of diploma course are part of the curriculum for degree course, since students of degree course make an in-depth study of the subject, therefore, they are better suited for appointment as Vyavasthapak, thus, degree holders who possess higher degree cannot be held to be ineligible.

This Court do not find any scope for interference in the matter. It is well settled that while exercising power of judicial review, this Court cannot declare diploma as equivalent to degree or vice-versa. Whether qualification-A is to be treated as equivalent to qualification-B for appointment to a particular post can be decided by the State Government while framing Recruitment Rules and this Court cannot sit in judgment over the decision taken by State Government as employer.

In the present case, the Recruitment Rule is silent regarding Bachelors Degree and it recognizes only Diploma qualification. Decision regarding equivalence or otherwise of two different qualifications can be taken by subject experts only and there is nothing on record to show that Bachelors Degree possessed by petitioners was ever recognized as equivalent to Diploma in Hotel Management and Catering Technology.

Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Himakshi v. Rahul Verma and others , reported as 2026 SCC OnLine 642, while dealing with similar issue held as under:-

“26. The legal position regarding the impermissibility of substituting prescribed qualifications with higher degrees, in the absence of an express enabling provision, stands fortified in the judgment of this Court in Zahoor Ahmad Rather v. Sheikh Imtiyaz Ahmad1, where it was held that in absence of a specific statutory rule or a provision in the advertisement, the recruiting agency cannot broaden the eligibility criteria by treating a higher qualification as a replacement for the mandatory ‘essential’ qualification’. The relevant portion of the judgment is reproduced for ready reference:—

“26. …it would not be permissible to draw an inference that a higher qualification necessarily presupposes the acquisition of another, albeit lower, qualification. The prescription of qualifica