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While holding that obtaining a degree in one of the branches of History cannot be said to be obtaining a degree in the subject of History as a whole, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the order passed by the Jharkhand High Court whereby it had confirmed the order of the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission canceling the candidature of Postgraduate and Graduate Trained Teacher.

"As a History teacher, he/she has to teach in all the subjects of History, namely, Ancient History, Indian Ancient History and Culture, Medieval / Modern History, Indian Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology etc. Therefore, having studied and obtaining the degree in only one branch of History cannot be said to be having a degree in History subject as a whole, which was the requirement.", held a bench of Justices MR Shah and BV Nagarathna.

The Department of Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha, Government of Jharkhand requisitioned the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (“JSSC”) in terms of the Appointment Rules, 2012 for starting the selection process for appointment to the post of Postgraduate Trained Teachers (PGTT) in the High School of the State of Jharkhand for different subjects under different categories.

As per the advertisement, the eligibility criteria for the post of Postgraduate Trained Teachers in the subject History was that a candidate must have obtained a Postgraduate degree with 50% marks in the related subjects.

At the time of verification of the testimonials of successful candidates, it was found that they were having a Postgraduate degree in Medieval History; Ancient History; Ancient History and Culture; Ancient History, Culture and Archaeology etc. respectively from different universities, and as such they failed to submit the Postgraduate degree in the subject 'History' in terms of the advertisement.

Thereafter, show cause notices were issued by JSSC asking why such applicants' candidatures may not be canceled as they failed to submit the certificate of Master of Arts (Postgraduation) with the subject “History”.

Similarly, for Graduate Trained Teachers (GTT) the advertisement for the post of History/Civics, the eligibility criteria was “Graduate with History and Political Science but out of two subjects, one subject must have 45 per cent marks and B.Ed. from institute recognized or B.Ed. from National Teachers Education Council and for SC/ST minimum 40 per cent”.

Consequently, when the candidatures of both PGTT and GTT applicants were canceled, they approached the High Court. The Single Judge bench of the high court dismissed their writ petitions, and the original writ petitioners preferred Letters Patent Appeals before the High Court which also came to be dismissed.

Thereafter, upon the matter reaching before it, the top court noted, 

"...for both the posts namely the Postgraduate Trained Teachers (History) and Graduate Trained Teachers (History/Civics), a candidate must have the Postgraduate/Bachelor degree in ‘History’ as a whole".

It was further noted that even at the request of JSSC the question, whether, the degrees obtained by the respective petitioners in one branch of History can be said to be sufficient compliance as per the advertisement and can be said to be obtaining a degree in History came to be considered by the Expert Committee, the Expert Committee opined that

"..the degrees obtained by the respective candidates/petitioners in one branch of History cannot be said to be obtaining the degree in History as a whole and therefore they cannot be said to be having the requisite qualification as per the advertisement."

In the field of education, the Court of Law cannot act as an expert normally, therefore, whether or not a student/candidate is possessing the requisite qualification should better be left to the educational institutions, more particularly, when the Expert Committee considers the matter, further said the bench.

Therefore, Court opined, "...There is no ambiguity and/or confusion in the advertisement providing educational qualification and the post for which the applications were invited (History/Civics). There cannot be any deviation from the educational qualifications mentioned in the advertisement."

Accordingly, Court held that the candidature/selection of respective petitioners was rightly canceled on the ground that they were not having the requisite qualification for the post.

Case Title: Indresh Kumar Mishra and Ors. vs. The State of Jharkhand & Ors.