KULDEEP Vs. STATE OF HARYANA & ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this batch of 57 writ petitions bearing CWP Nos.25485, 24664, 25266, 15214, 20885 of 2015; 3585, 3180, 2844 of 2016; 1268, 2000, 1674, 1614, 2996, 2517, 2719, 2725, 2739, 5493, 5810, 1559, 2105, 1563, 3843, 2751, 1560, 1691, 2721, 5701, 2422, 2504, 1442, 1221, 1726, 1742, 1495, 3515, 2910, 1487, 4137, 1561, 3881, 2091, 1558, 1349, 2876, 5406, 5346, 1437, 5574, 5386, 2160, 5342, 3133, 3107, 1589, 1999 & 2248 of 2017, the petitioners have questioned the validity of Clause at Sr.No.27 of Appendix `B' of the Haryana Veterinary Headquarter & Field (Group C) Service Rules, 1999 as amended vide notification dated 28.02.2011 whereby qualification for the post of Veterinary Livestock Development Assistant (VLDA) has been prescribed. As per the amended Rule, a candidate having academic qualification of Matric or its equivalent from a recognized University/Board/Institution is further required to possession "two years Veterinary Livestock Development Assistant Diploma Course from Ch.Charan Singh, Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar or any other Institution recognized/approved by the Haryana Government as specified in Appendix-E" besides knowledge of Hindi/Sanskrit upto Matric standard or Higher Education. The petitioners in these writ petitions have done their Diploma Courses in Veterinary Livestock Development from such Agricultural or Veterinary Universities which do not find mention in Appendix-E of 1999 Rules and consequently, they, having been treated ineligible for the post of VLDA advertised by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission, seek to strike down the embargo on the validity of their Diplomas created under the 1999 Rules and seek a consequential direction that they be considered eligible for the advertised posts. For the sake of brevity and to avoid repetition, the facts are being extracted from CWP No.25485 of 2015.

(2.) The petitioner in this case though passed his Matriculation from the Board of School Education, Haryana but he is said to have completed his Diploma in Livestock Assistant from Vinayaka Missions University, Salem, Tamil Nadu in the year 2008-09. The aforesaid University does not find mention in the list of 30 Universities included in Appendix-A of the 1999 Rules as amended on 28.02011. Resultantly, the petitioner has been rendered ineligible for recruitment to 797 posts of VLDA advertised on 10.07.2015.

(3.) The case of the petitioner is that Vinayaka Missions University is a `Deemed University' under Section 3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 and all programmes imparted by it through Distance Education are approved by the Distance Education Council, Government of India vide letter dated 17.02.2004. Regardless of such recognition, the offending amendment carried out on 28.02.2011, has rendered the petitioner ineligible to compete for the post of VLDAs. The petitioner thus assails the said Rule on the grounds, inter alia:-