The Allahabad High Court has dismissed the petition filed against the selection and appointment for the post of Lecturers recruitment of the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission, Prayagraj.

A Single Bench of Justice Vikas Budhwar passed this order while hearing a petition filed by Virendra Kumar Shukla.

The case of the petitioner is that he after pursuing B.Sc Graduate from Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur in the year 2007 obtained the qualification of M.Sc (Post-Graduate) in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in the year 2009.

The Court noted that an advertisement was published by the U.P Public Service Commission, Prayagraj on 18.06.2021 inviting application from eligible candidates for selection and appointment for the post of Lecturers in Government Ashram Paddhati Inter College, in various subjects including Physics-30, Chemistry- 26, Biology – 33 and Maths 35.

In the petition, the petitioner has asserted that he had filed his application form for being considered for the post of Lecturer in Chemistry. The petitioner appeared as a General Candidate and he appeared in the pre-examination as per the pre-schedule.

According to the petitioner, though, he was eligible and qualified in all respects, but his result of the main examination was not declared, hence the writ petitioner corresponded with the respondent.

Since the result of the petitioner was not declared so the petitioner had no option but to prefer Writ, which came to be disposed off with a direction to the Commission to issue a fresh communication to each of of the 12 candidates, whose candidature has been rejected for appointment on the post of Lecturer (Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry), including the petitioner citing exact ineligibility in that regard.

Now, the order has been passed on 21.10.2022, whereby the petitioner’s candidature has been rejected on the pretext that he is ineligible and not qualified for the post in question.

Questioning the order dated 21.10.2022 passed by the fourth respondent, Section Officer/ Information Officer, U.P Public Service Commission, Prayagraj, the petitioner has filed the petition.

Counsels for the petitioner have also relied upon the syllabus which is in vogue with regard to stream of Chemistry, wherein according to the petitioner, the Pharmaceutical Chemistry becomes the part and parcel of the main subject being Chemistry. Additionally, it is being sought to be argued that the respondent cannot go beyond the advertisement, as once a particular qualification has been prescribed in the advertisement, then it cannot be given a gobye and the Rules of the game cannot be changed, once the game has itself commenced.

B.K Singh Raghuvanshi, who appears for the Commission on the other hand submitted that the stand taken by the respondents which has been recorded in the impugned order cannot be faulted in any manner, whatsoever, particularly for the reason being that a conscious decision has been arrived at that too after deliberation at the end of the experts, who had been nominated by the Commission itself wherein it has been decided that the Pharmaceutical Chemistry is different from the subject Chemistry in that regard.

In nutshell, the submission of the counsels for the petitioner is that once a decision has been taken by the experts and the academicians, then it cannot be put to judicial scrutiny, i.e the writ proceedings, particularly when the said qualification has already been deliberated and has been accepted in the normal course of business of the Commission with regard to the post of Lecturer in DIET. He further relies upon the provisions contained under the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (Regulation and Procedure), Act 1985, which empowers the Commission to issue appropriate directions or regulations or inter-departmental letters providing for the modalities with regard to the determination of the fact as to whether a qualification would come within the realm of the particular discipline or not.