RAKESH SINGH BHADORIYA Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been filed seeking the following reliefs:-

(2.) It is the case of the petitioner that the petitioner is an Ex-Army man who had suffered gunshot injuries while he was posted at the Border. An advertisement was issued by the respondents on 22/04/2011 for awarding the Distributorship of LPG at Mehgaon, District Bhind for G.P. Category. It is submitted that the petitioner is having a graduation certificate issued by the Indian Army and this certificate is duly recognized by the Association of Indian Universities and as per the notification issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the certificate issued by the Indian Army is having equivalence to graduation. There is a scheme with regard to allotment of oil products agency to the Defence Personnel. The petitioner was holding the post of Havaldar and had received a bullet injury while he was posted at the Border and the eligibility certificate has also been issued by the Directorate General Settlement. Copy of the battle casualty certificate has been filed as Annexure P11 and character certificate is Ex.P12. The application of the petitioner for allotment of Distributorship of LPG was rejected by the respondents by discarding his graduation certificate. Therefore, the petitioner filed a Writ Petition No.424/2012, which was allowed and the respondents were directed to reconsider the educational qualification of the petitioner. Thereafter, the petitioner made a representation but the same has been dismissed by the impugned order. Accordingly, this petition has been filed, contending inter alia that the graduation certificate issued by the Indian Army fulfills the educational qualification as laid down in the guidelines for allotment of LPG Distributorship. It is further submitted that the Punjab & Haryana High Court by its order dated 18th February, 2020 passed in the case of Krishan Singh Yadav vs. Union of India and Ors . in CWP No.13263 of 2016 (O & M) has held that the graduation certificate issued by the Indian Army is equivalent to Graduation/Degree awarded by any of the Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or any other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under the UGC Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India and the present petition is duly covered by the said order.

(3.) Per contra, it is submitted by the counsel for the respondents/ Indian Oil Corporation that so far as graduation certificate issued by the Indian Army is concerned, it is valid for appointment on Class-C post and is not valid for allotment of LPG Distributorship because the graduation certificate issued by the Indian Army cannot be treated at par with the educational qualification degree awarded by any of the Universities or any other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University under the UGC Act, 1956 and further, the graduation certificate issued by the Indian Army has not been recognized by the Ministry of HRD, Government of India. It is further submitted that the Division Bench of Allahabad High Court by order dated 19/11/2014 passed in Writ-C No.60706 of 2014 [ Jai Vijay Singh vs. Union of India , through Secretary & Others] has held that graduation certificate issued by the Indian Army cannot be treated as an embodiment of an educational qualification awarded either by a University or by any other educational institution or by an entity declared to be a deemed University. Therefore, the said certificate does not fulfil the minimum educational qualification as mentioned in the guidelines for allotment of LPG Distributorship. It is further submitted that when the Division Bench of Allahabad High Court has held that the graduation certificate issued by the Indian Army is not equivalent to the educational qualification as required for allotment of LPG Distributorship, then the Single Judge of Punjab & Haryana High Court should not have passed the judgment in the case of Krishan Singh Yadav (supra) which runs contrary to the judgment of Division Bench of Allahabad High Court because the judgment passed by the Division Bench of Allahabad High Court is binding on the Single Judge of another High Court and in the light of the judgment passed by the Supreme Court in the case of National Insurance Company Limited vs. Pranay Sethi & Others reported in 2018(2) MPLJ 344, the Single Judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court should have referred the matter to a Larger Bench.