LUCKNOW The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court held that a degree in engineering is not equivalent to diploma and consequently petitioners are ineligible to participate in recruitment for a post of junior engineer. In view of the aforesaid, the court dismissed a petition moved by Graduate Engineering Students’ Welfare Association challenging service rules of junior engineers.
The judgement was passed by a division bench of justice Alok Mathur and justice Manish Kumar on April 20 on a petition filed by Graduate Engineering Students’ Welfare Association through petitioners Arti Sharma and eight others.
The petitioners had challenged the vires of 13 service rules of different departments under the state of Uttar Pradesh pertaining to service conditions of junior engineers. They had also challenged the advertisement issued by UP Subordinate Service Selection Commission dated March 7, 2024, for recruitment to the post of junior engineer.
The grievance raised by the petitioners in the plea was with regard to eligibility conditions prescribed in the impugned advertisement. According to the petitioners, in clause 6 of the said advertisement, the eligibility has been prescribed, which was as under:- “that the applicant should be a civil engineer having three years’ diploma from the UP Technical Board or an equivalent degree as prescribed by the State of UP.”
The petitioners’ counsel submitted that all the petitioners are having a degree of B Tech from various institutions and should be declared to be eligible for participation in the said recruitment process for the post of junior engineer (civil) and other equivalent posts.
The court said: “Diploma in engineering and graduate in engineering cannot be held to be in the same channel and also that graduate in engineering cannot be deemed to fulfil the qualifications, which are prescribed for grant of diploma. Thus, we have no hesitation in holding that the exclusion of degree holders from the zone of consideration in respect of advertisement in question meets the test as laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of State of Uttarakhand and others vs. Deep Chandra Tewari and another.”
“We are also of the considered view that the degree in engineering is not equivalent to diploma nor is there any government order in existence and consequently petitioners are ineligible to participate in recruitment for post of junior engineer. In view of the aforesaid discussions, the writ petition stands dismissed,” the court ordered.
UP Diploma Engineers’ Mahasangh provincial president HN Mishra and Diploma Engineers’ Sangh president ND Dwivedi welcomed the court’s decision. “The matter was of recruitment upon 4,612 posts of junior engineers (civil) in several departments including PWD, irrigation, rural engineering, UP State Bridge Corporation,” said Dwivedi.
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