CAT: It is for employer to decide qualification for a particular post

Chennai

The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) had issued notification to fill up vacancies of chargeman through LDCE on July 25, 2014. The qualification was prescribed as three diploma or equivalent qualification certificate affiliated by AICTE.

The petitioners’ applications were rejected, noting that had only diploma certificates issued by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IME), which was not equivalent to the prescribed qualification.

The employees then moved the tribunal seeking to direct the authorities to accept their applications. Later, 25 employees who had three-year diploma from recognised institutions approached the court to not consider the applications of employees who had only diploma certificate from IME.

When the petitioners, working in Skilled Grade in the factory, submitted that similar diplomas were accepted as eligible qualification in other factories, the bench comprising judicial member P Madhavan and administrative member T Jacob said, “Any illegality cannot be considered for granting relief on grounds of equality.”

The government submitted that according to recruitment rules, applicants who have IME certificates were not eligible. “We had constituted an expert committee to look into the question of equivalence and the committee held that the certificate issued by IME cannot be accepted as AICTE has not approved IME for granting certificates,” it said.

The tribunal held that it was for the employer to decide the necessary qualification for the post. The bench also accepted the government’s submissions that some ineligible candidates being treated as eligible could not be a ground for giving the benefit to the applicants.