Rajesh Kumar Dwivedi v. State of U.P.
Background
The appellant applied for the post of Instructor (Fitter trade) at a Government Industrial Training Institute in Uttar Pradesh, relying on three separate certificates from a Model Industrial Training Institute (one year basic training plus two six-month specialised modules) instead of a single two-year certificate from the National Council of Vocational Training (NCVT). He was rejected as ineligible, and both a Single Judge and a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court upheld that rejection, holding his combination of certificates could not be treated as equivalent to the prescribed two-year qualification.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court examined government circulars, one issued by the Union Ministry of Labour in 1983, and two by the U.P. Training and Employment Directorate in 1988 and 1992, which expressly declared that the appellant's exact combination of a one-year basic Mechanical trade course plus the Fitting General and Metrology/Engineering Inspection modules was equivalent to the two-year National Trade Certificate in Fitter trade. The Court held that since the State Government itself had already recognised this equivalency through its own circulars, its later stand that the appellant lacked the prescribed qualification was untenable: a qualification does not need to come from a single certificate if the State has already deemed an equivalent combination valid. The appeal was allowed, and the State was directed to take steps to appoint the appellant within two months.
Lesson Learnt
When a government department has issued its own circulars recognising certain combined or alternate qualifications as equivalent to a prescribed one, it cannot later turn around and reject a candidate holding that very combination: official equivalency circulars bind the government that issued them.