R.J. Gajendra Kumar v. Government of Tamil Nadu
Background
The appellant, appointed as a Tourist Officer in Tamil Nadu's Tourism Department by promotion in 2011 based on a degree he obtained through Madurai Kamaraj Open University's distance-education foundation course, was later denied further promotion to Assistant Director of Tourism when the government took the position (based on a 2009 order requiring the standard 10+2+3 pattern) that his qualification did not count. The High Court's Single Judge ruled in his favour, but a Division Bench reversed, and a review petition also failed, prompting his appeal to the Supreme Court.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court traced a chain of Tamil Nadu government orders and held that a 1985 order recognising open-university foundation courses as equivalent to standard qualifications remained in force for over two decades and was only prospectively invalidated by a 2017 government order, per an earlier Madras High Court ruling (P. Thavam) that the Supreme Court itself had already left undisturbed. Since the appellant obtained his qualification while the more permissive 1985 policy was in force, and nobody had ever challenged his original promotion to Tourist Officer, the government could not belatedly use qualification technicalities to block his further promotion. The Division Bench and Review Bench were held to have erred, and the Single Judge's order restoring his eligibility was reinstated.
Lesson Learnt
Government rules changing eligibility or qualification standards generally operate only prospectively, not retrospectively - people who relied in good faith on the rules in force at the time they acquired a qualification cannot be penalised years later when the rules are subsequently tightened.