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Orissa Lift Irrigation Corp. Ltd. v. Rabi Sankar Patro & Ors.

Miscellaneous Application · 2018 INSC 44Decided 22 Jan 2018
Miscellaneous Application Nos. 1795-1796 of 2017 in Civil Appeal Nos. 17869-17870 of 2017, with multiple tagged applications
Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel · Justice Uday Umesh Lalit

Background

This order decides a large batch of applications seeking clarification or modification of the Supreme Court's earlier judgment dated 3 November 2017 in Civil Appeal Nos. 17869-17870 of 2017, which had held that engineering degrees awarded by certain "Deemed to be Universities" through distance education mode (without AICTE approval) were invalid and required affected degree-holders to pass a qualifying test. Various groups of applicants, diploma holders who later obtained such degrees and advanced via UPSC selection, candidates with Master's degrees built on such degrees, and others, sought exemptions or clarifications specific to their situations, including this applicant's own M.A. Nos. 1795-1796 of 2017.

Decision Breakdown

The Court clarified that its earlier judgment concerned only degree courses, not diploma courses, and rejected submissions seeking to carve out other categories of candidates from the ruling's scope, holding that the fundamental infirmity in degrees awarded without AICTE approval could not be overlooked. However, recognising that immediate suspension of degrees could cost many candidates their jobs, the Court granted a one-time relaxation: candidates enrolled during 2001-2005 could retain their degrees and benefits until one month after the AICTE-conducted qualifying test's results (or 31 July 2018, whichever was earlier), provided they opted to take the test in the first available round, with no further such exceptions available later. All the applications, including this one, were disposed of in these terms, with AICTE directed to conduct the test by May-June 2018.

Lesson Learnt

When a Supreme Court judgment affects a large group of similarly situated people, the Court may calibrate transitional relief (like a one-time grace period) to limit hardship, but it will not dilute the substance of its ruling merely because compliance is inconvenient or because affected individuals have since advanced in their careers.

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

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