Srinagar, May 9: The state High Court has asked the government to see if professional degrees—B Ed, B SC Agriculture, B Sc Forestry and B Sc Fisheries etc are relevant for the post of Accounts Assistant.
 The official respondents have been asked to take a decision within two weeks by reconsidering the issue after going through the Court observations.
 A bench of Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar passed the directions on a petition wherein some candidates had pleaded that B Ed is not relevant for the post of Account Assistant and had prayed for quashing the short list.    
 “It is not a dispute that B Ed is not a recognized degree but it would be a constitutional duty on part of the appointing authority and the SSB to ensure that a person with relevant degree for the post is brought under the purview of the selection process” the court observed.
 The court said “It Prima facie appears that B Ed degree has not even the least relationship with the post of Accounts Assistant, but what is important in this case is that eligibility qualification prescribed in this case is graduation.”
  “Apart from B Ed, it requires to be seen if the other degrees including B SC Agriculture, B Sc Forestry and B Sc Fisheries, are relevant for the posts of Accounts Assistant, the Court observed.
 Counsel for the petitioners, G A Lone submitted that B Ed degree is a professional degree and has no relevance for the post of Accounts Assistant.
 “For the Accounts Assistant posts, the degrees possessed by the petitioners are most relevant degrees but by including B Ed, the petitioners could not be short listed for the interview” the counsel argued.
 He argued that BBA, MFC, BSc, MBA, BCA, MCA etc are the relevant degrees for the Accounts Assistants.  
 State counsel for the SSB, Shabir Ahmad argued that vide notification F-87-9/98( UP) dated 01-12- 1958, the B Ed is treated as degree and SSB took a decision to consider  the degree of highest percentage of marks where the candidate had more than one degree.
 Counsel for the petitioners, Jehangir Iqbal Ganie, submitted that B Ed is a degree in terms of section 22, Sub section 3 of University Grants Commission Act and the competent authority has declared B Ed as a degree.
 He told the court that a number of candidates with BCA and BBA qualifications have also been short listed for the posts of Account Assistant and the claim of petitioners’ that B Ed is not a relevant degree does not hold any water.
 “B Ed is a relevant degree and in the notification it is not motioned which degree is required for the post and all degrees should be considered for the posts of accounts assistants” he argued.
 Counsel for the interveners, Moksha Kazimi argued that the candidates from Jammu region have already been selected but some of them are not being appointed as apprentices due to court order.
 “Candidates who are not party in writ petition, their right can not be adjudicated and they cannot be halted to undergo training as Accounts Assistant apprentices”, she argued.
 She pleaded that in the Jammu District the apprentices have been appointed and those who could not reach the stage of selection process due to court directions have suffered inordinately.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 May 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 9 May 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 10 May 2012 00:00:00 IST