Central Administrative Tribunal - Madras
S Venkatesaperumal vs Ut Of Pondicherry on 19 June, 2024
1 OA 310/00970/2016 &
MA 310/00451/2022
CENTRAL ADMINISTRATIVE TRIBUNAL
CHENNAI BENCH
OA/310/00970/2016 & MA 310/00451/2022
Dated Wednesday the 19th day of June Two Thousand Twenty Four
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. VARUN SINDHU KUL KAUMUDI, Member (A)
&
HON'BLE MR. M. SWAMINATHAN, Member (J)
1. S. Venkadesaperumal
S/o K. Srinivasan
2. H. Iqbal
S/o Hameed Sultan (Late)
3. K. Sadish
S/o M. Kaliyaperumal
4. N. Sourirajan
S/o R. Narayanan
5. C. Rajkumar
S/o S. Chandrasekaran
6. K. Pragash
S/o K. Kandhavel
7. G. Selvakumar
S/o S. Govindarasu ... Applicants
By Advocate M/s. Y. Kavitha
Vs
1. Union of India
represented by the Chief Secretary
Government of Puducherry
2 OA 310/00970/2016 &
MA 310/00451/2022
Chief Secretariat
Puducherry.
2. Secretary to Government (Power)
Electricity Department
Government of Puducherry
Chief Secretariat
Puducherry.
3. The Superintending Engineer - I
Electricity Department
Puducherry. ... Respondents
By Advocate Mr. R. Syed Mustafa
3 OA 310/00970/2016 &
MA 310/00451/2022
ORAL ORDER
(Pronounced by Hon'ble Mr. Varun Sindhu Kul Kaumudi, Member(A)) In the instant OA, the applicant seeks the following relief:
"i. to direct the respondents to grant promotion to the applicants to the post of Tester with effect from April 2014 by drawing up year wise panel with arrears of pay and allowances and all other consequential benefits; ii. to award costs, and pass such further and other orders as may be deemed and proper and thus render justice."
2. Heard both sides, in detail.
3. The learned counsel for the applicant states that the point to be decided is very limited and it relates to grant of promotion to the Applicants to the post of Tester, with effect from April, 2014, by drawing up year-wise panel, with arrears of pay and allowances and all other consequential benefits.
4. To the contrary, the learned cousnel for the respondents states that the issue is not simply drawing up of year-wise panel for promotion. It is pertinent to examine whether the candidates fulfil the criteria for promotion which states that they should have Diploma in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, as given at Annnexure A2, specifically, at Para 12 of the Recruitment Rules, wherein the Note is as follows:
"12. In case of recruitment by promotion/ Promotion:
deputation/transfer, grades from which (1)(a) From the post of Wireman, Bill promotion/deputalon/transfer is to be made. Collector and Commercial Assistant with five years regular service in the 4 OA 310/00970/2016 & MA 310/00451/2022 respective grade, failing which by
(b) below;
(b) From the post of Wireman, Bill Collector and Commercial Assistant with eight years combined regular service in the posts of Wireman, Bill Collector, Commercial Assistant and Helper, failing which by (c) below;
(c) From the post of Helper with eight years regular service, failing which by (d) below,
(d) From the post of Helper with eight years combined continuous service in the posts of Helper and Construction Helper (Work Charged); and (2) Possessing a Diploma in Electrical and Electronics Engineering of a recognised University.
Note : The officials in the feeder grades should possess a Diploma in Electrical Engineering or Electrical and Electronics Engineering of a recognised University and should have completed two years of service after acquiring the said Diploma."
5. He also relies on the order, dated 25.04.2019, of this Bench, in OAs 925/2015 and 325/2016. The relevant portion of the order is extracted below:
"6. We have anxiously perused the pleadings and arguments put forward by the applicants and the respondents. The counsel for the respondents have brought to our notice that the earlier decision of the Hon'ble High Court in S.Sudhagaran v. Superintendent of Electricity Department, Puducherry (WP 28309 & 24552 of 2013 dated 18.12.14) wherein the same question was considered by the Hon'ble Madras High Court and it has held that the Diploma acquired from IASE and other deemed Universities are not equivalent to Diploma in Electrical Engineering from a recognised University. The above decision was rendered in appeal filed by the applicants in OA 772/09 which was dismissed by this Tribunal. Aggrieved by the above decision, the applicants had filed the above WP and the Hon'ble High Court has clearly laid down that the Degree or Diploma in Engineering subjects cannot be obtained through Distance Education Mode and it is not equivalent to the Diploma issued in a regular course and it cannot be considered as qualifying Degree for promotion. The above OA was filed by employees seeking promotion to the post of Junior Engineer 5 OA 310/00970/2016 & MA 310/00451/2022 under the same respondents. The Hon'ble High Court has held that there is nothing to show that the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Education, Rajasthan, was approved by the Distance Educational Council for commencing any Programme/Course/Degree/Diploma through distance mode. It was also noted that the AICTE has issued Public Notice stating that Universities, including deemed to be Universities, imparting technical education and educational institutions are required to obtain a specific prior approval from the Joint Committee of UGC/AICTE/DEC. Any Programme/Course for technical education conducted through distance mode without prior permission of the AICTE is illegal and will not be recognised. In this case also the applicants had not produced any record to show that the Diploma granted is approved by AICTE. The counsel for the applicants would content that the Course conducted by the deemed University have post facto approval granted by UGC through distance education mode. The Principal Bench of this Tribunal in OA 1308/09 dated 21.12.11 (S.C. Jain & 5 Others v Secretary, M/o Information & Boradcasting & Others had held that DEC may be an authority under the Act, and pass orders only prospectively and it cannot grant recognition or approval for course retrospectively and it was held that the University has no jurisdiction to confer any degrees as it has no AICTE recognition. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in Orissa Lift Irrigation Corp. Ltd. v. Rabi Sankar Patro & Ors. has also considered these aspects and has come to a finding that the Diploma or Degree granted by a deemed University without having AICTE approval is not equivalent to Degree or Diploma issued by the recognised University. In view of the above matter, it can be seen that the arguments raised by the counsel for the applicants cannot be sustained in view of the decision of the Hon'ble Madras High Court in S.Sudhagaran cited supra and in view of the finding of the Principal Bench in OA 1308/09 regarding the retrospective operation of the order of Distance Education Council as claimed by the applicants. So, we hold that the applicants has not succeeded in making out a case that a Diploma obtained by them from deemed University is equivalent to the Degree mentioned in the Recruitment Rules for the post of Tester.
7. We do not find anything to interfere in the order of rejection passed by the respondents regarding the qualification obtained by the applicants. Accordingly OAs will stand dismissed. Consequently MA for interim direction also stands dismissed with cost.
6. Having heard both the sides, we feel that there is no objection as such to the basic demand of the applicant for drawing up of year-wise panel by the respondents, as long as any such panel is drawn on the basis of the Recruitment Rules mentioned above.
6 OA 310/00970/2016 & MA 310/00451/2022
7. OA is disposed of in the above terms. MA 451/2022 for interim stay is also disposed of. No order as to costs.
(M. Swaminathan) (Varun Sindhu Kul Kaumudi)
Member(J) Member(A)
19.06.2024
AS