Satnam Singh vs Union Territory on 7 September, 2012
22. First of all, we will deal with the issue of validity of the Degrees / Diplomas obtained by the applicants from Institute of advance Studies in Education Gandhi Vidya Mandir, Sardarshahr (Rajasthan), a Deemed University, on the ground that degree obtained by Distance Education Mode cannot be treated as equivalent to degree obtained through regular classes. We need not delve into this issue any more in view of latest dictum of the High Court of Punjab and Haryana in C.W.P. No. 6243 of 2010 titled Swaran Singh and Others Vs. The Punjab State Electricity Board, Patiala decided on 27.1.2012 in which similar issue was involved regarding validity of degree of B.Tech from the same University. The Court negatived the objection taken by the State that the degrees granted through distance education cannot be equivalent to regular course. The Court was not shown any particular prohibition against Deemed University having Distance Education Programme under any provision of the UGC Act to disqualify a person for consideration. Directions were issued to the respondent in that case that petitioners would be treated as duly eligible for consideration for promotion.