the Madras High Court has ruled in favour of validity of the degree obtained by a woman 10 years before the G.O. was issued.
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Tamil Nadu
Equivalence certificate G.O. cannot be enforced retrospectively: Madras High Court
The ruling was given by a division bench on a petition filed by a job aspirant who was denied an appointment citing that G.O in BSc (Science) degree of Venkateswara University is not equivalent to BSc (Physics) in the state.
Representative image
Representative imagePhoto | Express illustration
Express News Service
Updated on:
27 Aug 2024, 10:46 am
2 min read
CHENNAI: Holding that a 2022 G.O. of the Tamil Nadu Higher Education department cannot be enforced with retrospective effect regarding validity of a science degree awarded by Venkateswara University for employment in government service, the Madras High Court has ruled in favour of validity of the degree obtained by a woman 10 years before the G.O. was issued.
The ruling was given by a division bench recently on a petition filed by a job aspirant, MD Ramya, who completed BSc (Science) in 2012 and BEd at Venkateswara University in Andhra Pradesh before obtaining MSc degree from University of Madras (UoM).
After clearing the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) and attending interview in 2022, she was denied an appointment citing that as per the 2022 G.O, BSc (Science) degree of Venkateswara University is not equivalent to BSc (Physics) in the state.
When she filed a petition in the high court challenging the G.O, a single judge ruled against her saying the court could not go into the merits of the report of an expert committee, based on which, the G.O. was issued. Subsequently, she filed the appeal.
Advocate Kavitha Rameshwar, appearing of the petitioner, submitted that the single judge failed to take into account the fact that UoM had accepted the degree and issued an equivalent certificate for the purpose of employment in government departments and the views of the experts given in 2022 could not be used for depriving the validity of the degree obtained in 2012.
Concurring with her submissions, the division bench ruled, “The impugned order (2022 G.O.) can operate prospectively alone and cannot affect the degrees obtained prior to the date of the impugned order if equivalence has been previously certified either by a university or the competent authority.”
The bench quashed the G.O. insofar as the degree of the appellant was concerned and set aside the order of the single judge. “The respondents are directed to treat the appellant as eligible for employment in public services of the state holding that BSc (Science) acquired by her in 2012 is equivalent to BSc (Physics),” the bench said in the order.
