CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has upheld an order of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) rejecting appointment to a woman BE degree holder on the ground that she was over-qualified against the requirement of diploma only. Justice S Vaidyanathan was dismissing a writ petition from R Lakshmi Prabha, challenging an order dated July 31, 2013, of the CMRL, rejecting her plea for appointment and consequently praying for a direction to the CMRL to appoint her to the post of train operator/Station Controller/Junior Engineer (Station).
Prabha had applied to the post in pursuance of an advertisement dated February 1, 2013, and participated in the online test conducted and came out successful. Her contention was that though she had cleared her BE degree on June 21, the certificate was issued only on July 24 and therefore, it could not be said that she was over-qualified on the cut-off date of July 23.
The judge pointed out that when clause No 13 is read in conjunction with clause No 2 of the Employment Notice, it can easily be said that the petitioner is overqualified as on the cut-off date of July 23, 2013, as she had written the exam and was declared pass in the same. Therefore, she is not entitled to any relief.
When there is a prescription of minimum qualification, barring over-qualified candidates from applying, the candidature can be rejected. The minimum required qualification has been clearly described with further indication that over-qualified candidates need not apply. Hence, the judge dismissed her plea.
REVIEW RULES: HC
Madurai: Observing that prescription of educational qualifications must be in consonance with the job profile in public employment, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court directed the State to review the rules relating to selection to various posts especially Grade III, IV and last grade services. The judge stated that the State government prescribes the minimum qualifications required for the post but not the maximum qualification, resulting in overqualified persons applying.