Courts cannot tinker with qualifications necessary for a government job. That is the sole priority of the State government as the recruiter, the Supreme Court held in a judgment.
“Judicial review can neither expand the ambit of the prescribed qualifications nor decide the equivalence of the prescribed qualifications with any other given qualification… Whether a particular qualification should or should not be regarded as equivalent is a matter for the State, as the recruiting authority, to determine,” a Bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Sandeep Mehta held in a recent judgment.
The verdict followed an appeal filed by a disgruntled candidate for the post of a high school assistant in Physical Science in Kerala.
Shifana P.S., who holds a B.Sc. in Polymer Chemistry and a B.Ed. in Physical Science, cleared the written exam conducted by the Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) in 2009, but did not make it to the final merit list.
Not eligible, says KPSC
The KPSC, represented by advocate Vipin Nair, said the job advertisement had specifically required a B.Sc. in Chemistry. He said she was not eligible for selection as a B.Sc. in Polymer Chemistry was not the same as a Bachelor’s in Chemistry.
Ms. Shifana countered that she had a certificate from her alma mater, Calicut University, which said that a B.Sc. in Polymer Chemistry was the “equivalent” of a Bachelor’s in Chemistry.
But Justice Mehta said “equivalence of a qualification is not a matter that can be determined in the exercise of the power of judicial review”.
After keeping the case pending for nearly 11 years, the top court agreed with the KPSC that judges were definitely not subject experts and cannot declare one qualification as an equivalent of another.
“Equivalence is a technical academic matter. It cannot be implied or assumed. Any decision of the academic body of the university relating to equivalence should be by specific order or resolution, duly published,” Justice Mehta, who authored the judgment, observed.
The appeal was dismissed.
