The Candidates with B.Ed degree in 'Biological Science' are eligible to apply to the post of High School Assistant (Natural Sciences) in government schools in Kerala Supreme Court decision

The Supreme Court in Praveen Kumar CP Vs. Kerala Public Service Commission & Ors held that the candidates with B.Ed degree in 'Biological Science' are eligible to apply to the post of High School Assistant (Natural Sciences) in government schools in Kerala. The Supreme Court was considering two appeals. The appellants were persons with B.Ed in 'Biological Science'. As per the notification issued by the Kerala Public Service Commission, the qualifications for the post of HSA (Natural Sciences), were- 1. Applicants should have taken Botany or Zoology or Home Science or Microbiology as Main subjects for graduation or post graduation 2. B.Ed/BT in the "concerned subject The issue was whether B.Ed in 'Biological Sciences' would qualify as B.Ed in the "concerned subject" for the purpose of HAS (Natural Science). When the PSC refused to accept their applications, stating that they don't have B.Ed in 'Natural Science', they approached the Kerala Administrative Tribunal. During the pendency of their cases before the KAT, the Kerala Government issued 2 orders stating that the B.Ed 'Biological Science' degrees of the appellants were equivalent to B.Ed in 'Natural Science'. The Supreme Court noted that there is no provision in the Kerala Education Rules which makes B.Ed in a specified subject the qualifying criteria. The graduation requirement in the concerned subject is there, but going by the said Clause, it postulates B.Ed. degree as the eligibility criteria. As regards the Government Orders, the Court held that once the GOs specifically declared that their B.Ed. degrees were equivalent to the designated subject which formed part of the employment notification the GOs in substance have to be interpreted clearly in nature and these cannot be construed to have had elevated the status or position of the degree they already had after the declaration was made in the GOs. The subject GOs only recognised an existing state of affairs so far as the nature of the degrees were concerned and did not create fresh value for the degrees which the appellants possessed. The GOs do not reveal any intervening circumstances which could be construed to imply that the respective degrees acquired the equivalent status because of such circumstances occurring subsequent to grant of their B.Ed. degrees. The Court said that it does not think "treating the appellants' degrees as equivalent to those required under the applicable notifications by the GOs issued in the year 2019 would result in change in the rules of the game midway". The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's judgment and restored the orders of the Administrative Tribunal.