Bhushan Kumar vs Union Of India & Ors.

Justice Om Prakash VII, Member (J)

This O.A. has been filed by the applicant under section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985 with the following reliefs:-

The brief facts of the case are that applicant possessed the qualification of diploma in Mechanical Engineering. He passed the aforesaid Diploma from Janardan Rai Nagar, Rajasthan Vidyapeeth (Deemed) University Pratap Nagar, Udainagar in the year 2010. Rajasthan Vidyapeeth (Deemed) University Pratap Nagar, Udainagar was declared as deemed to be University by the Central Government on the advice of the U.G.C. under section 3 of UGC Act, 1956 and notified as such in the official Gazette on 12^th January 1987. An advertisement was issued by the Railway Recruitment Board in the various newspapers for the post of Junior Engineer Group Grade Pay Rs. 4200/- and SSE Group –Grade Pay Rs. 4600/-. Applicant applied for the post of Junior Engineer and thereafter call letter was issued in favour of the applicant for appearing in the written examination. Applicant appeared in the written examination test held on 14.12.2014 in which he was succeeded. Thereafter a call letter for interview and document verification has been issued to the applicant. Pursuant to call letter, applicant appeared in the interview in which he qualified. Result was declared but the name of applicant was not mentioned in the list of final result. Being aggrieved, applicant approached before the respondent NO.4 and filed an application dated 06.03.2017 with regard to declaring his result. When no action was taken by the respondents on the application of the applicant dated 06.03.2017 then he filed another application dated 20.03.2017 with the same prayer. After verification of certificates and other academic records, the result of applicant has been declared by the respondent No. 4 vide letter dated 10.04.2017, in which he was selected for the aforesaid post under unreserved category. Thereafter respondent No. 5 has issued an offer of appointment to the applicant on the post of Junior Engineer vide letter dated 07.07.2017. Pursuant to offer of appointment, applicant appeared before the respondent No.5 and submitted all the requisite documents for verification and joining of his service but respondents authority has not issued the appointment letter in favour of applicant and not permitted him to join his service. When no action has been taken by the respondent No. 5 regarding the appointment and joining of the applicant, then he submitted an application dated 31.07.2017 before respondent No. 4. In this regard, he submitted several reminders but no attention has been paid to the respondents for disposal of his representation. Thus, applicant filed present original application before this Tribunal.

On notice, respondents filed counter affidavit in which they have submitted that in the Centralized Employment Notice No 2/2014 dated 20.09.2014 as per notification for Post of Junior Engineer (Mechanical Workshop) in the pay scale of Rs.9300-34800 GP 4200/- against Category No.43 Single stage written examination followed by Document verification was to be conducted. Based on the result of Written Examination held on 14-12-2014 the applicant bearing Roll No. 19142362014783 was called for document verification. Thereafter the name of applicant was placed in the provisional panel issued on 10.04.2017. In the provisional panel send to indenter Modem Coach Factory Rai Barielly it was mentioned that the caste and other educational eligibilities of candidates may be verified at their level prior to appointment. It is submitted here that Centralized Employment Notice stipulates under heading Para 3. Educational Qualification- Candidates should have requisite Educational/ Technical qualifications (as indicated in vacancy table) from recognized Board / University / institute as on the date of submission of the ONLINE application for this Centralized Employment Notice. Those awaiting results of the final examination need not apply. Candidate who have obtained diploma / degree through distance mode except AMIETE are not eligible to apply. It is further submitted that after issuance of provisional Panel of Applicant the fact came to notice that as per stipulations laid down under the Centralized Employment Notice, the candidates who have obtained diploma/ degree through distance mode except AMIETE are not eligible to apply. It was found that Applicant's Educational qualification was Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Janardan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth (Deemed) University, Udaipur, Rajasthan through distance education mode, hence Applicant was not found a genuine and bona-fide candidate. As a result of this event the indenting authority Rail Coach Factory, Rai Bareilly the Respondent No. 5 was advised on 12.07.2017 to "Put on hold" the operation of provisional panel dated 10.04.2017 of the Applicant with immediate effect. As per instructions contained under Railway Board's letter No. E(RRB)/2001/ 25/26 dated 15.03.2002 the "Life of the Panel" issued by Railway Recruitment Boards is only for one year. In the instant case the life of Panel has already been expired.

Learned counsel for the applicant has filed rejoinder affidavit basically reiterating the facts as stated in the O.A.

We have heard Shri Vinod Kumar, learned counsel for the applicants and Shri Mahendra Prasad Mishra, learned counsel for the respondents and perused the records.

Submission of learned counsel for the applicant is that applicant has succeeded in all the examinations conducted by the Railway Recruitment Board for the post of Junior Engineer. Learned counsel for the applicant further submitted that respondent No. 5 has also issued an offer of appointment to the applicant to the post of Junior Engineer subject to verification of character and antecedents and production of original documents. Learned counsel for the applicant also submitted that applicant appeared before the respondent No. 5 for document verification and joining of his service but respondents authority has not issued appointment letter in favour of the applicant and not permitted him to join the post. Learned counsel for the applicant contended that applicant possessed the qualification of diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Janardan Rai Nagar, Rajasthan Vidyapeeth (Deemed) University Pratap Nagar, Udainagar in the year 2010. Learned counsel for the applicant further contended that diploma obtained from Janardan Rai Nagar, Rajasthan Vidyapeeth (Deemed) University Pratap Nagar, Udainagar through the distance education mode and approved by the U.G.C. does not require approval of AICTE. Thus, diploma obtained by the applicant from Janardan Rai Nagar, Rajasthan Vidyapeeth (Deemed) University Pratap Nagar, Udainagar which has been approved by the U.G.C. is a valid one and should be recognized for government service. Learned counsel for the applicant placed reliance upon the case law of Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Union of India and others Vs. Uzair Imran & others reported in 2023 Supreme (SC) 1032.

In rebuttal, learned counsel for the respondents submitted that as per the statutory recruitment and rules applicable for appointment to the post of Junior Engineer, it has been specifically laid down that the eligible candidates must possess three years diploma in Mechanical Engineering or equivalent qualification in respective field duly affiliated by the U.G.C / AICTE. Learned counsel for the respondents submitted that the applicant, who applied for the examination held for the post of Junior Engineer informed that he has possessed diploma from Janardan Rai Nagar, Rajasthan Vidyapeeth (Deemed) University Pratap Nagar, Udainagar. Since the qualification of applicant was not in terms of the relevant S.R.O. i.e. the diploma acquired by him was not affiliated to AICTE, his case could not be considered for appointment to the post of Junior Engineer. Learned counsel for the respondents relied upon the judgment and order of this Tribunal in the case of Shri Narayan Das Vs. Union of India and others in OA No. 1439 of 2016 decided on 14.07.2023.

We have considered the rival submission of the parties and have gone through the entire record.

The main thrust of the argument of the counsel for applicant is that the diploma in engineering granted by Janardan Rai Nagar, ^{MANISH KUMAR} Rajasthan Vidyapeeth (Deemed) University Pratap Nagar, Udainagar cannot be recognized by the respondents for the purposes of eligibility of the applicant to the post of Junior Engineer.

During the course of argument, when we have raised the point that appointment letter of the applicant has been issued by the respondents then relief No. 1 to this extent has no meaning where applicant is seeking direction to the respondents to issue appointment letter in favour of the applicant. On this point, learned counsel for the applicant submitted that he does not want to press relief No. 1 at this stage.

So far as prayer made in relief No. 2 are concerned, applicant is seeking to direct the respondent NO. 4 to decide the representation of the applicant dated 27.11.2018 by a reasoned and speaking order. In this regard, we decide to give aforesaid direction.

In view of the limited prayer made by learned counsel appearing for the applicant, no useful purpose will be served in keeping this O.A. pending. Therefore, without entering into the merits of this case, the O.A. is disposed of with a direction to the authority concerned amongst the respondents to decide the said representation dated 27.11.2018 moved by the applicant by passing a reasoned and speaking order within a period of two month from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. The order so passed shall be communicated to the applicant without any delay. No costs.