Courts can't decide if BE is equal to science degree: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has said that courts are not the expert bodies to decide whether a bachelor’s degree in engineering (BE) is equivalent to a degree in pure science.

A division bench headed by Justice Satish Chandra Sharma made this observation while allowing a writ appeal filed by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB).

The board had challenged the order passed by a single bench on September 3, 2020. The single judge had directed the board to treat the degree in engineering as a bachelor’s degree in science and consider the candidature of seven applicants, all BE degree holders, for the posts of assistant/clerk.

The BWSSB had invited applications for the post of ‘assistant’ and the qualification prescribed as “should possess a degree in arts/commerce/science of a recognised university and one-year duration course in computer basics.”

The BE degree holders requested the board to consider their candidature, pressing that BE degree should be treated as a degree in science. The single judge held that since the term ‘science’ had not been defined anywhere it cannot be limited to include only a bachelor degree in pure science.

Quoting Supreme Court’s decision in the Zahoor Ahmed case, the bench said that as a public employer, the state has to take into account social perspectives that require creation of job opportunities across the societal structure.

“The courts are not the expert bodies which can give a finding that bachelor’s degree in engineering has to be treated equivalent to a degree in science,” the court said.

The bench also said that the employer is entitled to prescribe the qualifications as a condition of eligibility and there is no part of the role or function of judicial review to expand upon the ambit of prescribed qualifications.

“It is for the expert bodies like the University Grant Commission to arrive at such a finding and therefore, as the qualification required for the post in question was graduation in science, the appeal preferred by the employer deserves to be allowed and is, accordingly allowed,” the bench said.