Some Working Knowledge Of Accounts & Finance Doesn't Make Army's Graduation Certificate Equivalent To Specialised Qualification: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has dismissed a plea moved by an ex-serviceman of Indian Army seeking appointment in a subsidiary company of Indian Railways, on the basis of the graduation certificate issued by the Army, as a Junior Assistant (Finance) under ex-Servicemen quota.

The ex-serviceman Raj Kumar's argument was that since he was having the experience of "working in Administration / Accounts / Finance / Budget / Logistics in the Army", he has the essential qualification for the post of Junior Assistant (Finance). The qualification sought for by RITES for the post was B.COM/BBA (Finance)/BMS (Finance).

The division bench of Justice V Kameswar Rao and Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta said the plea of the petitioner is not appealing for the reason that even if he has some working knowledge of Accounts and Finance, that would not really commensurate with the qualification and knowledge required for the post in question, which one achieves after three years of study

"If the plea of the petitioner is accepted, then it shall mean that, for example, if the eligibility for a given post is B.Sc. (Chemistry), a candidate similarly placed like the petitioner would be able to seek equivalence of the Graduation Certificate issued by the Army with a Decree in B.Sc (Chemistry). That cannot be the intent of providing a Graduation Certificate."

The court said the certificate issued by Army certifies that the petitioner has the qualification of Graduation without any specialisation. It added that the certificate itself states that "an ex-serviceman who has put in 15 years of service in the Armed Forces and having minimum qualification of Matriculation may be considered for appointment to the posts for which the essential qualification prescribed is Graduation."

Kumar had joined Indian Army on April 27 in 1996 and retired on August 31, 2017 after putting in a service of 21 years and 4 months. Kumar had applied in RITES Limited on September 28, 2019 for the post of Junior Assistant (Finance) under ex-servicemen quota. RITES on November 18, 2020 issued a letter to Kumar stating that the request for consideration of his candidature to the post in question could not be considered.

The letter was challenged by Kumar before Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). The Tribunal observed that "when the essential qualifications of a particular post were clearly mentioned in the advertisement, non acceptance of deemed graduation held by Kumar as being equivalent to such qualification, cannot be faulted with."

Aggrieved by the same, Kumar had approached the High Court against dismissal of his plea by the Tribunal. Upholding the order passed by the Tribunal, the court rejected the plea as being devoid of merit.

Title: RAJ KUMAR v. UNION OF INDIA & ANR.

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 1191

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