Jyoti Kumar vs Union Of India & Ors.
- Court
- Delhi High Court
$~73 to 75
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 2195/2019
SONU KUMAR .....Petitioner
Through: Mr. Ashutosh Thakur, Mr.
Abhishek Pandey, Mr. Chandra Pratap and
Mr. Amit Kumar, Advs.
versus
UNION OF INDIA & ORS .....Respondents
Through: Mr. T. P. Singh, SPC
74
+ W.P.(C) 9954/2019 & CM APPL. 41210/2019
JYOTI KUMAR .....Petitioner
Through: Mr. Ashutosh Thakur, Mr.
Abhishek Pandey, Mr. Chandra Pratap and
Mr. Amit Kumar, Advs.
versus
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Respondents
Through: Mr. T. P. Singh, SPC
75
+ W.P.(C) 9958/2019 & CM APPL. 41238/2019
NAROTTAM KUMAR .....Petitioner
Through: Mr. Ashutosh Thakur, Mr.
Abhishek Pandey, Mr. Chandra Pratap and
Mr. Amit Kumar, Advs.
versus
UNION OF INDIA & ORS. .....Respondents
Through:
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE C. HARI SHANKAR
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VINOD KUMAR
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed By:AJIT
KUMAR
Signing Date:24.07.2026
18:14:02
W.P.(C) 2195/2019 and other connected matters Page 1 of 6
JUDGMENT (ORAL)
% 20.07.2026
C. HARI SHANKAR, J.
1. In response to an advertisement issued by the Staff Selection
1
Commission for recruitment to the various posts of Junior Hindi
Translators, Junior Translators, Senior Hindi Translators and Hindi
Pradhyapaks, the petitioners applied. The examination was conducted
on 15 June 2017 and 6 August 2017.
2. The petitioners were provisionally found eligible and called for
document verification. At the stage of document verification, there
candidature was cancelled.
3. Aggrieved thereby, the petitioners approached the Central
2
Administrative Tribunal by way of OA 2991/2018.
4. During the course of the proceedings in the Tribunal, it came to
light that the petitioners’ candidature was cancelled on the ground that
they did not satisfy the essential prescribed educational qualifications
for the aforesaid posts. These qualifications have been tabulated in
the additional affidavit dated 23 December 2019, filed by the SSC,
and read thus:
“Educational Qualification
Master's Degree of a recognized University in Hindi or English
with English or Hindi as a compulsory or elective subject at degree
1
“SSC” hereinafter
2
“Tribunal” hereinafter
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed By:AJIT
KUMAR
Signing Date:24.07.2026
18:14:02
W.P.(C) 2195/2019 and other connected matters Page 2 of 6
level;
OR
Bachelor's degree with Hindi and English as main subjects (which
includes the term compulsory or elective)
Note: Candidates must ensure that they have studied English and
Hindi as main subjects in all the three years of B.A. pass course .”
5. It appears that a query was raised by the SSC to a committee
constituted by it to provide clarifications in respect of the examination
relating to the aforesaid requirement. The relevant query posed by the
SSC, and the recommendation of the committee in response thereto,
with which we are concerned, read thus:
Queries raised by the Commission Recommendations of the Committee
As per note given in the RR, Candidates
must ensure that they have studied
English and Hindi as main subjects in
all the three years of B.A. Pass Course.
If, a candidate has BA (Hon.) in Hindi
or English, in such cases, whether study
of English and Hindi as main subjects in
all the three years of B.A. Pass course is
necessary?
Study of English or Hindi in one
semester or one year at Degree level
is enough to fulfill this EQ
requirement.
The candidate must have studied
English and Hindi as main subjects
in all the three years of B.A. Pass
Course/ BA (Hon.) Course.
6. The Tribunal has, in the impugned order, placed reliance on the
Note below the prescribed educational qualifications and the
recommendations of the committee constituted by the SSC to hold that
studying English and Hindi as the main subjects in all three years of
the Bachelor’s Degree Course was mandatory irrespective of whether
the course was a B.A. Pass Course or BA (Hon.) Course. The
petitioners in WP (C) 2195/2019 and WP (C) 9958/2019 were BA
(Hon.) English students whereas the petitioner in WP (C) 9954/2019
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Digitally Signed By:AJIT
KUMAR
Signing Date:24.07.2026
18:14:02
W.P.(C) 2195/2019 and other connected matters Page 3 of 6
was a BA (Hon.) Hindi student. In the case of BA (Hon.) English
Course, Hindi was taught as an elective subject for two of the three
years of the course and in the case of BA (Hon.) Hindi Course,
English was taught as an elective subject in one year of the course.
7. On the reasoning that the petitioners had not studied English or
Hindi in all three years of the course, the Tribunal has, by judgment
dated 19 December 2018, dismissed the OA.
8. Aggrieved thereby, the candidates have filed the aforesaid three
individual writ petitions.
9. We have heard Mr. Amit Kumar, learned Counsel for the
petitioners and Mr. T.P. Singh, learned SPC for the respondents, at
length.
10. The issue, to us, is elementary.
11. The query posed by the Commission, and the recommendations
of the committee thereto, needless to say, have to yield place to the
actual wordings of the prescribed educational qualifications. In so far
as the Bachelor’s Degree qualifications are concerned, the requirement
of studying English and Hindi as a main subject in all three years of
the course, as per the note in the rules, applies only to B.A. Pass
Courses . The students who have studied B.A. (Hons.) courses are
governed by the main body of the prescribed educational qualification
and not by the Note which follows thereunder.
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed By:AJIT
KUMAR
Signing Date:24.07.2026
18:14:02
W.P.(C) 2195/2019 and other connected matters Page 4 of 6
12. The prescribed educational qualification in the case of
Bachelor’s Degree students as envisaged in the main body of the
prescribed educational qualifications only requires the students to
have either Hindi or English as the main subject which includes
compulsory as well as elective . As such, if the subject is taught even
at an elective level, it would be treated as if the subject were to be
taught as the “main subject”.
13. In the case of each of these petitioners, one of the subjects
English/Hindi was taught as the main subject and the other was taught
at the elective level. Applying the Rule, therefore, each of these
petitioners possess Bachelor’s Degree with Hindi and English as main
subjects, as the subject, even if studied at an elective level would, by
the deeming fiction contained in the rule, be treated as having been
studied as a main subject.
14. In that view of the matter, the recommendation by the
Committee clearly misreads the applicable Rule and the applicable
educational qualifications and could not, therefore, have been relied
upon by the Tribunal.
15. Mr. Singh, appearing for the respondents, submits that there is
no post vacant in which the petitioners could be accommodated. He
has drawn our attention to para 16 of the additional affidavit filed by
the respondents on 23 December 2019, in which it is stated that there
was no post vacant after allocation.
16. We are not inclined to accept this as a ground to deny relief to
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed By:AJIT
KUMAR
Signing Date:24.07.2026
18:14:02
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the petitioners for the simple reason that, in each of these writ
petitions, there is an order passed by the Division Bench, at the time
of issuing notice, directing that a post be kept vacant for each of these
petitioners. At no stage was any application moved before this Court
to modify or vacate the said order.
17. In that view of the matter, we reject the submission of Mr.
Singh that no relief can be granted to the petitioners as no post was
kept vacant.
18. We, therefore, are of the opinion that the Tribunal erred in the
view it took. The petitioners clearly possessed the qualifications
prescribed in the advertisement.
19. Resultantly, the impugned order passed by the Tribunal is
quashed and set aside. The petitioners’ cases shall be processed
further on the basis that they qualified the prescribed educational
qualifications.
20. The writ petitions stand allowed in the aforesaid terms with no
orders as to costs.
C. HARI SHANKAR, J
VINOD KUMAR, J
JULY 20, 2026
AR CD
/
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed By:AJIT
KUMAR
Signing Date:24.07.2026
18:14:02
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