Educational Qualification A Valid Ground For Classification Between Persons Of Same Class In Matters Of Promotion : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday held that educational qualification is a valid ground for classification between persons of the same class in matters of promotion.In the judgment delivered in the case Chandan Banerjee & Ors v. Krishna Prosad Ghosh & Ors, a bench comprising Justices DY Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and Hima Kohli held that such classification on the basis of educational qualification is not violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution.Holding so, the Court upheld the validity of separate eligibility conditions for promotion to Supernumerary Assistant Engineers having diploma and degrees in Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The judgment authored by Justice Chandrachud observed that the legislature or delegatee in matters of public policy and public employment must be given sufficient room to decide the quality of individuals it seeks to employ as against different positions.Principles on classificationRelying on the Apex Court decisions in State of Jammu & Kashmir v. Trilokinath Khosa (1974) 1 SCC 19, State of Mysore v. P Narasing Rao AIR 1968 SC 349 ; Ganga Ram v. Union of India (1970) 1 SCC 377, Union of India v. Dr (Mrs) SB Kohli (1973) 3 SCC 592 and Roshan Lal Tandon v. Union of India AIR 1967 SC 1889; Roop Chand Adlakha v. Delhi Development Authority and others 1989 Supp (1) SCC 116; M Rathinaswami v. State of Tamil Nadu (2009) 2 SCC (LS) 101; State of Uttarakhand v. SK Singh (2019) 10 SCC 49, the bench observed that the following principles emerged: (i) Classification between persons must not produce artificial inequalities. The classification must be founded on a reasonable basis and must bear nexus to the object and purpose sought to be achieved to pass the muster of Articles 14 and 16; (ii) Judicial review in matters of classification is limited to a determination of whether the classification is reasonable and bears a nexus to the object sought to be achieved. Courts cannot indulge in a mathematical evaluation of the basis of classification or replace the wisdom of the legislature or its delegate with their own; (iii) Generally speaking, educational qualification is a valid ground for classification between persons of the same class in matters of promotion and is not violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution; (iv) Persons drawn from different sources and integrated into a common class can be differentiated on grounds of educational qualification for the purpose of promotion, where this bears a nexus with the efficiency required in the promotional post; (v) Educational qualification may be used for introducing quotas for promotion for a certain class of persons; or may even be used to restrict promotion entirely to one class, to the exclusion of others; (vi) Educational qualification may be used as a criterion for classification for promotion to increase administrative efficiency at the higher posts; and (vii) However, a classification made on grounds of educational qualification should bear nexus to the purpose of the classification or the extent of differences in qualificationsFacts Of The Case Calcutta Municipal Corporation Services (Common Cadres) Regulations ("Regulations") were notified by Kolkata Municipal Corporation ("KMC") on December 23, 1994, which were applicable to all the employees under all departments and offices and provided for management and control of common cadres, seniority and recruitment among other conditions of service. Rule 9 of the Regulations provided for the method of recruitment for the post of Assistant Engineers ("AE") and Subordinate Assistant Engineers ("SAE"). To provide three modes of appointment to the post of AE, the Regulations were modified on August 7, 1997, and the KMC thereafter modified the Recruitment Regulations for the post of AE and notified them by a circular dated February 20, 2002. The circular dated February 20, 2002, was challenged in a writ before the High Court which was disposed with granting liberty to the petitioners to make a representation before the KMC. In an effort to remove stagnation in promotion to the next higher post of AE from the post of SAE, a circular was issued dated June 17, 2008 which was called as "first career advancement scheme" as it awarded basic scale of pay (Rs. 8,000 - 275/- 1000) of an AE to SAEs who have completed twenty years of satisfactory service in the KMC. The KMC on July 3, 2012 issued a circular ("impugned circular")which was considered to be the second career advancement scheme that stipulated the creation of supernumerary AE posts for SAEs holding a diploma and having completed twenty-five years of services and SAEs holding a degree and having completed thirteen years of services (out of which 5 years were as degree holder). In...

Educational Qualification A Valid Ground For Classification Between Persons Of Same Class In Matters Of Promotion : Supreme Court

Shruti Kakkar

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