Dipangki Haloi v. The State of Assam and 9 Ors

ORDER

06.01.2023

Heard Mr. H Buragohain, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. N Upadhyay, learned counsel for the respondents No.1, 2, 3 and 4 being the authorities under the Irrigation Department, Government of Assam and Mr. TJ Mahanta, learned senior counsel for the respondents No.5 to 8 being the authorities under the APSC as well as Mr. K Gogoi, learned counsel for the respondents No.9 and 10 being the authorities under the Technical Education, Government of Assam.

¶2The petitioner Dipangki Haloi has the qualification of three years Diploma in Engineering (Civil Engineering & Planning) from Girls' Polytechnic, Bamunimaidum, Guwahati. She participated pursuant to an advertisement dated

19.08.2020 by the APSC, amongst others, for the post of Junior Engineer (Civil Engineering Branch) under Irrigation Department, Government of Assam and as per the advertisement, the required eligibility is three years diploma course in the concerned Engineering discipline from an Institution recognized by the Government, State Council for Technical Education and further that the diploma obtained through distance mode of education will not be acceptable.

Page No.# 4/6

¶3As the petitioner has the qualification in Diploma in Engineering (Civil Engineering & Planning), instead of Diploma in Civil Engineering her candidature stood rejected. Being aggrieved WP(C)No.6121/2022 was instituted which was given a consideration by the order dated 19.09.2022 requiring the Secretary APSC to take up the matter with the Commissioner and Secretary in the Government of Assam in the Technical Education Department and arrive at a mutually acceptable conclusion as to whether the qualification of Diploma in Civil Engineering and Planning can also be an acceptable qualification in a situation where the advertisement dated 19.08.2020 requires the qualification of Diploma in Civil Engineering. In compliance thereof, the order dated 06.10.2022 has been passed by the Secretary APSC, which is extracted as below: "Whereas in connection with the recruitment to the post of Junior Engineer (Civil) under Irrigation Department, the Hon'ble High Court vide order dated 19.9.2022 passed in WP(C) no. 6121/2022 (Miss Dipangki Haloi vs State of Assam & others) disposed of the writ petition with a direction to the Secretary, APSC (respondent no.5) to take up the matter with the Technical Education Department and arrive at a mutually acceptable conclusion as to whether the qualification of Diploma in Civil Engineering and Planning can also be an acceptable qualification in a situation where as per the advertisement dated 19.08.2020 the required qualification is Diploma in Engineering, Whereas in view of the aforesaid order of the Hon'ble High Court, the Commission held a meeting on 28.9.2022 with the official of the Technical Education Department, Government of Assam to arrive at a mutually acceptable conclusion, Whereas the matter was discussed in the meeting and it was observed that as per the advertisement no. 06/2020 dated 19.08.2020, the requisite qualification for the said post is that a candidate must have passed three years diploma course in the concerned Engineering discipline from an Institution recognized by the Government, SCTE(State Council for Technical Education), Diploma obtained through distance mode of education will not be acceptable Now, in pursuance of the conclusion of the meeting, it was decided that while the relevant advertisement stipulated the educational qualification as Diploma in the concerned Engineering subject (i.e Civil, Mechanical and Electrical), the equivalent qualification Diploma in Civil Engineering & Planning is not eligible as per the advertisement. It was further decided to act upon the selection result already available vide no.98PSC/CON/Exam-52/2019-2020 dated 19.7.2022 in compliance of the order of the Hon'ble Court dated 19.9.2022. Page No.# 5/6 Inform all concerned accordingly."

¶4A reading of the afore-extracted order of the Secretary APSC makes it discernible that although a consultation was made with the Technical Education Department, but the view of the Technical Education Department is that as the advertisement itself provides for the qualification of Diploma in Civil Engineering, therefore, the qualification of Diploma in Engineering (Civil Engineering & Planning) would be unacceptable. We are of the view that the aforesaid manner in which the conclusion is arrived at is not an adequate compliance and requirement of the order dated 19.09.2022 in WP(C)No.6121/2022. When we required the Secretary APSC to have a consultation with the Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Assam in the Technical Education Department as to whether the qualification of Diploma in Engineering (Civil Engineering & Planning) would also be an acceptable qualification, what we meant is that the two authorities will sit together and make a qualitative assessment as to whether substantially the two qualifications are same or in other words, whether the qualification of Diploma in Engineering (Civil Engineering & Planning) also covers the requirement of the qualification of Diploma in Civil Engineering. As the aforesaid exercise had not been undertaken, we require both the authorities namely, the Secretary APSC and the Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Assam in the Technical Education Department to again meet and arrive at a definite conclusion as to whether the two qualifications i.e. Diploma in Engineering (Civil Engineering & Planning) and Diploma in Civil Engineering are inter-changeable, meaning thereby that whether the qualification of Diploma in Engineering (Civil Engineering & Planning) would meet the requirement of Diploma in Civil Page No.# 6/6 Engineering or the two qualifications i.e. Diploma in Engineering (Civil Engineering & Planning) and Diploma in Civil Engineering are substantially in form different from each other. In other words, the course particulars of the two courses i.e. Diploma in Engineering (Civil Engineering & Planning) and Diploma in Civil Engineering are to be taken into consideration while arriving at their conclusion as to whether substantially the two courses are same or different.

¶5The above requirement be done within a period of seven days from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order. Upon such conclusion that may be arrived, the respondents may further process with the selection process pursuant to the advertisement dated 19.08.2020.

¶6Writ petition stands disposed of in the above terms.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/6 GAHC010000872023 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oWP(C)/56/2023o DIPANGKIoHALOIo D/O-oBASANTAoKUMARoHALOI,o R/O-oDATALPARA,oNATUNBASTI,o A.K.oDEVoROAD,o P.O.-oDHIRENPARA,o P.S.oFATASILoAMBARI,o DISTRICT-oKAMRUP(M),o PIN-o781025,oASSAM. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDo9oORSo REPRESENTEDoBYoTHEoCOMMISSIONERoANDoSECRETARYoTOoTHEo GOVERNMENToOFoASSAM,o IRRIGATIONoDEPARTMENT,o DISPUR,oGUWAHATI-o781006. 2:THEoSECRETARYoTOoTHEoDEPARTMENToOFoIRRIGATION oGOVERNMENToOFoASSAM oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-o781006. 3:THEoDEPUTYoSECRETARY(E) oIRRIGATIONoDEPARTMENT oGOVERNMENToOFoASSAM oDISPUR oGUWAHATI-o781006 o ASSAM. 4:THEoCHIEFoENGINEER oIRRIGATIONoDEPARTMENT Page No.# 2/6 GUWAHATI- 781003 ASSAM. 5:THE ASSAM PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION REPRESENTED BY THE CHAIRMAN JAWAHAR NAGAR KHANAPARA GUWAHATI- 781022. 6:THE SECRETARY TO THE ASSAM PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION JAWAHAR NAGAR KHANAPARA GUWAHATI- 781022. 7:OF EXAMINATION ASSAM PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION JAWAHAR NAGAR KHANAPARA GUWAHATI- 781022. 8:THE UNDER-SECRETARY ASSAM PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION JAWAHAR NAGAR KHANAPARA GUWAHATI- 781022. 9:THE STATE COUNCIL OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION ASSAM REPRESENTED BY ITS SECRETARY STATE COUNCIL OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION ASSAM GUWAHATI- 781019 ASSAM. 10:THE DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION KAHILIPARA GUWAHATI- 781019 ASSAM Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. H. BURAGOHAIN Page No.# 3/6 Advocate for the Respondent : SC, IRRIGATION BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ACHINTYA MALLA BUJOR BARUA