New Delhi, July 26: Students holding a degree in engineering can’t be appointed as junior engineers when they apply for vacancies recently advertised by the Uttar Pradesh government, the Allahabad High Court said on July 25.
“Engineering degree holders are ineligible to participate in the selection process of junior engineers in the light of the advertisement issued by the UP state,” a three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court comprising Justice BK Narayana, Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Pankaj Bhatia said.
The court made the announcement while hearing a bunch of petitions filed by candidates having a degree in engineering who were not allowed to participate in the selection.
The petitions were filed by Deepak Singh and nine others who had approached the court, arguing that they had a degree in engineering and were more qualified than those with a diploma. They were of opinion that a degree in engineering was a higher qualification, hence they should be allowed to participate in the recruitment process.
After hearing their petitions, the Allahabad High Court said that a diploma in engineering and a degree in engineering are two distinct qualifications and a degree in the field in question cannot be viewed as a higher qualification when compared to a diploma in that field. Hence, the degree holders will be held ineligible to participate in the light of the advertisement issued by the state government.
The court also said that the state government has the power to prescribe the requisite qualification required for an advertised post and it cannot be a matter for judicial review.
Recently, the Uttar Pradesh government had published an advertisement for the post of junior engineer and had invited applications from only those holding a diploma in engineering. As a result, candidates with an engineering degree were not eligible to participate in the recruitment process.
