B.Ed In Biological Science Eligible Qualification For HSA(Natural Science) Post : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has held that candidates with B.ED degree in 'Biological Science' are eligible to apply to the post of High School Assistant (Natural Sciences) in government schools in Kerala.

A bench comprising Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice Aniruddha Bose set aside the judgments of the Kerala High Court which held that B.Ed degree in 'Biological Science' was not a qualification for High School Assistant (Natural Sciences).

Background facts

The Supreme Court was considering two appeals. The appellants were persons with B.Ed in 'Biological Science'.  As per the notification issued by the Kerala Public Service Commission, the qualifications for the post of HSA (Natural Sciences), were :

• Applicants should have taken Botany or Zoology or Home Science or Micro Biology as Main subjects for graduation or post graduation.
• B.Ed/BT in the "concerned subject".

The issue was whether B.Ed in 'Biological Sciences' would qualify as B.Ed in the "concerned subject" for the purpose of HSA(Natural Science).

When the PSC refused to accept their applications, stating that they don't have B.Ed in 'Natural Science', they approached the Kerala Administrative Tribunal. During the pendency of their cases before the KAT, the Kerala Government issued two orders stating that the B.Ed 'Biological Science' degree of the appellants were equivalent to B.Ed in 'Natural Science'.

On the basis of these Government Orders, the Tribunal allowed both the petitions and directed KPSC to include the appellants' names in the ranked list.

The KPSC assailed the Tribunal's orders before the High Court of Kerala. Their stand before the High Court was that equivalency ought to operate from the dates of issue of the respective GOs and the said GOs could not be given retrospective effect from the date of notification of the posts. Accepting the argument of the PSC, a division bench of Justices K Vinod Chandran and VG Arun of the High Court set aside the order of the KAT. The High Court said that the acceptance of the Government Orders with retrospective effect would amount to change in the rule of the game mid-way, which is impermissible.

Challenging the High Court verdict, the candidates approached the Supreme Court.  Their main argument is that the GOs only recognised a subsisting position as regards status of their respective educational qualifications and confirmation of the equivalency of their B.Ed. subjects by the respective GOs met the eligibility requirement.

Supreme Court's reasoning

The Supreme Court noted that there is no provision in the Kerala Education Rules which making B.Ed in a specified subject the qualifying criteria.

"The graduation requirement in concerned subject is there, but going by the said Clause, it postulates B.Ed. degree simplicitor as the eligibility criteria. No other Rule has been shown to us by the learned counsel for the State of Kerala or the Commission from which it can be inferred that there was requirement of a candidate for the subject posts to hold B.Ed. degree in the concerned subject", the judgment authored by Justice Aniruddha Bose stated.

As regards the Government Orders, the Court held that they "recognized an existing state of affairs so far as the nature of the degrees were concerned and did not create fresh value for the degrees which the appellants possessed".

"Once the GOs specifically declared that their B.Ed. degrees were equivalent to the designated subject which formed part of the employment notification, the GOs in substance have to be interpreted as clarificatory in nature and these cannot be construed to have had elevated the status or position of the degree they already had after the declaration was made in the GOs. The subject GOs only recognised an existing state of affairs so far as the nature of the degrees were concerned and did not create fresh value for the degrees which the appellants possessed. Though these equivalent orders were not in existence on the dates of issue of employment notifications, the GOs in substance recognize such status from the dates of obtaining such degrees. The GOs do not reveal any intervening circumstances which could be construed to imply that the respective degrees acquired the equivalent status because of such circumstances occurring subsequent to grant of their B.Ed. degrees", the judgment stated.

The Court said that it does not think "treating the appellants' degrees as  equivalent to those required under the applicable notifications by the GOs issued in the year 2019 would result in change in the rules of the game midway".

"At best, it can be termed as interpreting the rules when the game was on, figuratively speaking. Such a course would, in our opinion, be permissible", the Court observed.

"We have opined that the appellants' degrees in B.Ed. were equivalent to those required by the employment notifications and the equivalency orders were merely clarificatory in nature. For this reason, we do not think there was any fundamental breach of Notes (v) and (vi) of Clause 7 of the respective employment notifications in the cases of the appellants", the Court added.

The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's judgment and restored the orders of the Administrative Tribunal.

"Let result of the appellants be disclosed and in the event, on the basis of their performance, they come within the list of selected candidates as per the ranked lists, the benefit  hereof shall not be denied to the appellants on the ground of lapse of the list by efflux of time. In the event they qualify for appointment, they shall be given appointment and they shall be treated to have been in service from the date of their appointment in their respective posts", the Court ordered.

Advocate Sarath Janardanan appeared for the appellant.

Case Details

Title : Praveen Kumar CP v. Kerala Public Service Commission and others(C.A No.4846/2021) and connected case

Citation : LL 2021 SC 392

Click here to read/download the judgment