MBA Degree Not Equivalent To PG Degree/Diploma In Human Resource Management Or Industrial Relations & Labour Legislation: SC [Read Judgment]

One of the 'Essential Qualifications' for the post of Labour Welfare Superintendent in the advertisement issued by Municipal Corporation of Delhi was Post-Graduate Degree/Diploma in Social Work or Labour Welfare or Industrial Relations or Personnel Management or in any other allied subject of recognized University /institution or equivalent.

Kavinder, who is an MBA Graduate, was provisionally short-listed for the Part II examination but was later declared not to be eligible for selection. Faced with this rejection, he approached the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) contending that he fulfilled the eligibility requirements. The Tribunal noted that he had studied Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations in the course of the MBA degree programme and therefore found that he is eligible. A  direction was issued to the Corporation for his appointment to the post. The High Court affirmed this order of the Tribunal dismissing the plea filed by the Corporation challenging it.

Allowing the appeal filed by the Corporation, the Apex Court observed that the Tribunal was manifestly in error in holding that the candidate was qualified merely because he studied two subjects as a part of his MBA degree programme, namely, Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations and Labour Legislation. The bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud,Indu Malhotra and KM Joseph said:

The first respondent completed the MBA degree programme from Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. The mark sheets which have been relied upon by the first respondent indicate that during the course of the second semester, he studied Human Resource Management as a subject. In the fourth semester, the first respondent had a course in Industrial Relations and Labour Legislation. Studying these two subjects would not lead to the conclusion that the first respondent holds a post graduate degree or diploma in the disciplines which have been specifically spelt out in the advertisement or in any allied subject. The MBA degree cannot be regarded as allied to a post graduate degree or diploma in Social Work, Labour Welfare, Industrial Relations or Personnel Management.

The recruitment was being made to the service of the appellant. The advertisement did not specifically provide how equivalence was to be established between a postgraduate degree/diploma in the subjects specified in the advertisement and a postgraduate degree/diploma in an allied subject. The appellant as an employer was best suited to judge whether the degree of the first respondent was in an allied subject. Unless this assessment was perverse or contrary to the requirements prescribed, the Tribunal had no reason to interfere.

Case Details
Case no.: Civil Appeal No 232 of 2020
Case name: North Delhi Municipal Corporation Vs Kavinder and Others 
Coram: Justices DY Chandrachud,Indu Malhotra and KM Joseph
Counsel:  Advocates Ajay Bansal and Kanhaiya Singhal

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