Srinagar- The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has held that an ineligible candidate cannot claim relaxation of eligibility criteria solely on the basis of having served on a contractual basis for some time.

A Division Bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Sanjay Parihar also emphasized that contractual engagement does not create any vested right to claim waiver of essential qualifications or to bypass the regular selection process mandated under Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

The Court made the observations upholding its single bench's verdict, dismissing a plea filed by a candidate against who had challenged her disqualification from a recruitment process conducted by Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology (SKUAST), Kashmir pursuant to advertisement in 2015.

The Division Bench noted that the candidate had applied for the post on the basis of a certificate claiming FMPHW diploma to be equivalent to a Nursing Diploma.

“The plea....that....the FMPHW certificate should be considered equivalent to“Diploma in Nursing” cannot be accepted for the simple reason that the qualification prescribed for the post of Female Nurse is Diploma in Nursing only and not any other qualification equivalent thereto,” the court said.

In absence of any such stipulation in the qualification, the court said, the reliance placed by candidate on the“so called equivalent qualification is totally uncalled for and not permissible under law”.

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