PARVAIZAHMAD PARRY versus STATE OF JAMMU & KASHMIR & ORS.

Citation: [2015] 12 S.C.R. 810 · Decided: 06-11-2015 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: JASTI CHELAMESWAR · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Cited by 3 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

A 
B 
[2015] 12 S.C.R. 810 
PARVAIZAHMAD PARRY 
v. 
STATE OF JAMMU & KASHMIR & ORS. 
(Civil Appeal No. 13368 of 2015) 
NOVEMBER 06, 2015 
[J. CHELAMESWAR AND 
ABHAY MANOHAR SAPRE, JJ.] 
c 
Service law: Appointment - Post of Range Officer 
(Forest) - Minimum qualification prescribed in the Rules for 
applying to the post of J & K Forest Service Range Officers 
Grade-I was "B.Sc. (Forestry) or equivalent from any 
University recognized by /CAR" - Eligibility of appellant 
D candidate who completed B.Sc. with forestry as one of the 
major subjects from Garhwa/ University and also completed 
M Sc. (Forestry) from same University - Held: He is eligible 
for appointment to the post of Range Officer (Forest) - J & K 
Forest Service (Gazetted) Recruitment Rules, 1970. 
E 
' 
Allowing the appeal, the Court 
HELD: The minimum qualification prescribed for 
applying to the post of J & K Forest Service Range 
F Officers Grade-I was "B.Sc. (Forestry) or equivalent from 
any University recognized by ICAR". It is not disputed 
that the appellant was to his credit a qualification of 
B.Sc. with Forestry as one of the major subjects and 
Masters in Forestry, i.e. M.Sc.(Forestry), on the date when 
G he applied for the post in question, which satisfied the 
eligibility criteria so far as the qualification was 
concerned. There is no justification in the reasoning of 
the High Court that in order to be an eligible candidate, 
the appellant should have done B.Sc. in Forestry and 
H since he had not done so, he was not considered as 
810 
PARVAIZAHMAD PARRY v. STATE OF JAMMU & 
811 
KASHMIR 
an eligible candidate. This reasoning does not stand to A 
any logic and is, therefore, not acceptable insofar as 
the facts of this case are concerned. Firstly, if there 
was any ambiguity or vagueness noticed in prescribing 
the qualification in the advertisement, then it should 
have been clarified by the authority concerned in the B 
advertisement itself. Secondly, if it was not clarified, . 
then benefit should have been given to the candid.ate 
rather than to the respondents. Thirdly, eyen assuming 
that there was no ambiguity or/and any vagueness yet 
the appellant was admittedly having B.Sc. degree with C 
Forestry as one of the major subjects in his graduation 
and further he was also having Masters degree in 
Forestry, i.e., M.Sc.(Forestry). In the light of these facts, 
the appellant was possessed of the prescribed 0 
qualification to apply for the post in question and 
his application could not have been rejected treating him 
to be an ineligible candidate for not possessing 
prescribed qualification. If a candidate has done B.Sc. 
in Forestry as one of the major subjects and has also E 
done Masters in the Forestry, i.e., M.Sc.(Forestry) 
then in the absence of any clarification on such issue, 
the candidate possessing such higher qualification has 
to be held to possess the required qualification to 
apply for the post. 
In fact, acquiring higher F 
qualification in the prescribed subject i.e. Forestry was 
sufficient to hold that the appellant had possessed the 
prescribed qualification. It was coupled with the fact 
that Forestry was one of the appellant's major subjects 
in graduation, due to which he was able to do his G 
Masters in Forestry. [Paras 22 to 25) [815-H; 816-A-H; 
817-A-B] 
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 
13368of2015 
H 
812 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2015] 12 S.C.R. 
A 
. From the Judgment and Order dated 10.05.2013 of 
the Division Bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court at 
Jammu in Letter Patent Appeal No. 102 of 2012 
Roh it Sthalekar,Avi Tandon, Saurabh Trivedi, Advs. for 
B theAppellant. 
c 
G.M. Kawoosa, N. Ganpathy, Sunil Fe 1nandes, Ms. 
Nithin Jain, Ms. Astha Sharma, Puneeth K., Advs., for the 
Respondents. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
ABHAY MANOHAR SAPRE, J. 1. Leave granted. 
2. This appeal is filed against the final judgment and order 
D dated 10.05.2013 passed by the High_ Court of Jammu & 
Kashmir at Jammu in L. P.A. f'...lo. 102 of 2012 whereby the 
Division Bench of the High Court dismissed the appeal filed 
by the appellant herein while upholding the judgment dated 
12.11.2012 passed by the learned Single Judge of the High 
E Court in SWP No. 2699 of 2010. 
F 
G 
3. In order to appreciate the issues involved in the appeal, 
which lie in a narrow compass, few relevant facts need mention 
lllfra. 
4. The appellant completed B.Sc. with Forestry as one 
of the major subject

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