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Provided that a candidate for the post of Engineer, Group A, in Wireless Planning and Coordination Wing/Monitoring Organisation, Ministry of Communications and Indian Naval Armament Service (Electronics Engineering Posts) , may possess any of the above qualifications of the qualification mentioned below namely:-
M.Sc degree or its equivalent with Wireless Communication, Electronics, Radio Physics or Radio Engineering as a special subject.

20. Admittedly, IASE is deemed to be University and was granted the said status under the UGC Act for imparting education for award of degrees in B.Ed, M.Ed and PHD in education. It is noticed that IASE has entered into the field of distance education without getting prior approval of the competent statutory authorities. It must be noted that deemed to be University is different from the conventional universities established under the Statute. As per UGC guidelines, the deemed to be University would carry the courses leading into the award of Degrees/Diplomas will be in the areas of education which have been authorized by the UGC, DEC and AICTE. The reports cited by the respondents clearly lead us to believe that IASE has branched away to the areas for which the Institute has not been authorized by the competent statutory bodies. This would mean that those who get Degrees/Diplomas in the field, not authorized by the competent statutory bodies, would not be legally eligible to be considered either for appointment or for promotion. In this context, the applicants who have received Degrees in MSc (Electronics) would not be in a position to place the said degrees for the purpose of appointment or for promotion to a higher post where such a qualification is required from recognized Universities. It is noted that recognition of deemed to be University does not itself empower the universities to impart education in any field that they may deemed fit. This aspect has been very clearly brought out by the respondents in their pleadings. We do agree with the views and contentions advanced by the respondents. In case of a distance education programme to be imparted, the same is being done by the conventional universities established by a Statute or by the Open Universities. In case of deemed to be Universities, the Ministry of HRD has brought in a Committee with three relevant statutory bodies, namely, All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), University Grants Commission (UGC) and Distance Education Council (DEC) to examine each case on its merits and decide, which university should be granted distance education and for which courses. Though the applicants have pleaded before us that the Distance Education Council has given a letter to the effect that the IASE (deemed to be University) can undertake distance education for MSc (Electronics), it must be noted that such a letter does not on its own entitle the IASE to continue the course unless all the three statutory bodies, namely, UGC, AICTE and DEC give approval as prescribed in their relevant respective statutes. In this context, it is noticed that the applicants have obtained their degrees through distance education which may not be the right process by which M.Sc (electronics) degrees could be awarded to the applicants. Further, looking the case from another angle, it is noticed that IASE has franchised the distance education programmes for different courses through Regional Centres, State Centres, Study Centres and such franchise as per the contentions of the respondents are not admissible under the extant guidelines and rules. So much so, that the UGC, AICTE and DEC issued circulars and even some of the advertisements have been issued to indicate that students likely to become students to prosecute their studies through distance education must be aware of recognized and non recognized courses and recognized and non recognized Institutes where such studies can be persued. It is in this context that we notice that the applicants have passed their respective courses only through the centres and have not studied directly at the IASE. Therefore, from this angle, the applicants would not be entitled to get the benefits of such a degree for consideration to be promoted to the post of ASE.

25. As per the recruitment rules in force, 50% of junior time scale cadre is filled up by promotion from amongst the eligible Assistant Engineers of AIR and Doordarshan who had requisite qualification prescribed for direct recruit candidate of junior time scale. As such it was mandatory that the Assistant Engineer must possess the educational qualification of B.E. B.Tech or Master Degree or its equivalent with Electronic Radio Engineering as one of the subject from a recognized University/Institution and three years regular service in the grade of Assistant Engineer. The office memorandum dated 25.07.2007 issued by Prasar Bharati reads as follows:-

26. In order to get promotion to the grade of JTS it is a necessary condition that the candidate must have the requisite qualification from a recognized institute. It emerges from the perusal of pleadings that the Institute of Advance Studies and Education Sardarsahar Rajasthan cant be construed to be a recognized institute for the purpose of granting M.Sc (Electronics) degree through its centres under distance education mode prior to 2007-08 academic year. It is noted that AICTE did not grant approval to this institute to run M.Sc (Electronics) through distance education mode during the relevant period. UGC has found through the fact finding enquiry that IASE has been running non recognized degree courses through its unauthorized centres on distance education mode. The DEC has been categorical that the IASE has not been authorized to run distance education courses in M.Sc (Electronics). Further, as per Memorandum of Understanding signed between UGC, AICTE and the DEC there must be an approval of all three statutory bodies viz. UGC, AICTE and Distance Education Council with due recommendation of the Joint Committee for approving the course in question. Such an approval has not been admitted by these three statutory bodies.

27. Having considered the facts and circumstances of the present case, we are of the considered conclusion that the applicants M.Sc (Electronics) degree being from the unauthorized centres and based on non-recognised programme run by IASE through distance education cannot be termed as eligible educational qualification and, therefore, the applicants were not eligible for being considered to be put in the eligibility list for promotion to the post of Assistant Station Engineer.

28. In the result, we do not find any merit in the contentions of the applicants and as such, we dismiss the OA. No costs.