The Bombay High Court refused to order degree holders in civil engineering to be considered as eligible for the post of junior engineer in a government department that sought applications from candidates having a diploma in the subject or any equivalent qualification. On February 20, the Supreme Court issued notice in a special leave petition against the Bombay High Court. The high court's decision was not overturned by a division bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.K. Maheshwari, who also declined to do so.

“Issue notice, returnable on Friday, April 14. The prayer for stay is declined. The official respondents shall be at liberty to proceed with the selection process subject to final outcome of special leave petition.”

The debate centres on whether those with civil engineering degrees are qualified to qualify for the junior civil engineer position being advertised by the Maharashtra government's water resources division in 2019. 610 civil engineers filed a case with the high court after making unsuccessful attempts to have the eligibility requirements overturned before the state administrative tribunal. Their writ suit was dismissed in January of this year by a bench consisting of Acting Chief Justice S.V. Gangapurwala and Judge Sandeep V. Marne, who noted, “Merely because a degree in civil engineering might [be] a higher qualification than a diploma, this court would not be in a position to interpret the provisions of recruitment rules and direct the state government to consider candidates who are not eligible as per the recruitment rules…We are therefore unable to hold that degree in civil engineering is a higher qualification than a diploma in the context of requirement under the recruitment rules.”

The petitioners have now sought the supreme court to contest this ruling. According to the petitioners, a civil engineering degree is an equivalent qualification for recruitment based on a reading of the criteria for hiring junior engineers and sectional engineers. They have also claimed that the current recruitment campaign, which only recognises diplomas as an acceptable form of education, is in violation of the aforementioned hiring regulations.

Case Title: Milind Shantilal Rathod & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra 
Citation: Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 3674 of 2023