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Maharashtra Forest Guards and Foresters Union, Nagpur v. The State of Maharashtra & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2017 INSC 1076Decided 3 Nov 2017
Civil Appeal No. 17974 of 2017
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice R. Banumathi

Background

Under Maharashtra's recruitment rules, 75% of Forester posts are filled by seniority-cum-fitness among Forest Guards, and the remaining 25% through a Limited Departmental Competitive Examination (LDCE) open to all Forest Guards with five years' service. A 2013 amendment additionally required candidates to hold a graduate degree to even sit the LDCE. The Forest Guards' union challenged this graduation requirement as discriminatory against non-graduate Forest Guards who were otherwise eligible.

Decision Breakdown

The Court held that since the LDCE was meant to give all Forest Guards (irrespective of educational qualification) a chance to compete for the 25% quota, and no separate quota existed for graduates alone, imposing a graduation requirement unreasonably split one eligible class (Forest Guards) into a sub-class (graduates vs. non-graduates), violating the equal-opportunity guarantees of Articles 14 and 16. The Court accordingly declared the graduation requirement in Rule 7(2) of the Recruitment Rules unconstitutional, while clarifying that promotions already made would not be disturbed; future LDCE rounds were to be held afresh, open to all eligible Forest Guards. The appeal was allowed.

Lesson Learnt

A government cannot add an additional eligibility bar (like a specific educational qualification) to a promotional exam meant for an entire class of employees unless there is a genuine, separately-quota-backed basis for the distinction, doing so without such a basis amounts to unconstitutional discrimination within the same class.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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