JAGJIT SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By instituting the instant petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, petitioners namely Jagjit Singh and Gurcharan Jaidka belonging to General Category, aspirants for the post of Clerk/Clerk-cum- Data Entry Operator have sought quashing of select/merit list dtd. 10/10/2016 (Annexure P-4) on the ground that petitioners are qualified Graduate Degree holders from Sikkim Manipal University which is duly recognized by University Grant Commission (for short 'UGC'), and have been wrongly considered ineligible having acquired their Graduate Degrees through Distant Education Mode, thus possessing invalid degrees. They claim right of consideration based on their secured merit for appointment with effect from dates candidates junior in merit in their category have been appointed.

(2.) Respondent No. 2-Subordinate Service Selection Board, Punjab (for short 'Board') vide Advertisement No. 4 of 2015 dtd. 27/11/2015 (Annexure P-1), invited online applications for recruitment of 556 posts of Clerks and 58 posts of Clerk-cum-Data Entry Operator. The posts of Clerks were subsequently increased to 2715 through different corrigendum. The minimum qualification prescribed for selection and appointment to the post of Clerks/Clerks-cum-Data Entry Operators was as below:

(3.) The petitioners applied online for the post of Clerk/Clerk-cum- Data Entry Operator in General Category. The Board accepted their applications and they appeared for Punjabi and English typing test conducted from 23/5/2016 to 20/6/2016. The petitioners qualified the test and Board vide public notice dtd. 28/6/2016 published a provisional merit list. The Board vide notice dtd. 22/7/2016 declared counselling schedule which was conducted from 26/7/2016 to 19/8/2016. The petitioners appeared in the counselling in terms of category wise schedule, however, Board in final merit list declared on 10/10/2016 did not include name of the petitioners on the ground that they have acquired degree through Distance Education Mode with Examination Centre outside the Territorial Jurisdiction of the University.