The Supreme Court has asserted that students who have bona fide completed their education and obtained degrees from a university established under a legislative enactment, which is subsequently declared ultra vires, should not be deprived of the benefits of their degrees. The Court clarified that the subsequent invalidation of the parent statute does not automatically render the degrees obtained prior to such invalidation null and void, especially when the students are not at fault and there is no evidence to suggest that the university was a sham or that studies were not genuinely imparted.
Consequently, the Court declared the termination of employment based solely on the ground that such a degree, is invalid, as illegal, and ordered reinstatement of the appellants with continuity of service but denied back wages, reasoning that they had not performed their duties during the intervening period and the fault could not be attributed solely to the respondent-State.
A Two-Judge Bench of Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Vijay Bishnoi observed that the appellants could not be considered at fault, as they had pursued their studies in a university that was duly established under an Act enacted by a State Legislature. It emphasized that there was no allegation from the State that the University was ‘bogus’ or that the appellants had not actually undertaken their studies and passed the examinations.
The Bench pointed out that the State of Bihar had appointed the appellants in 2010, well after the 2005 judgment in the Professor Yash Pal case. Their degrees were not questioned at the time of appointment, and they were allowed to work for over five years before their services were terminated. Furthermore, the issue regarding the validity of their degrees was brought to the State’s attention as early as 2010 through a Public Interest Litigation, which was eventually dismissed.
Briefly, the appellants were appointed as librarians by the State of Bihar after obtaining a degree of Bachelor of Library Science in 2004 from the University of Technology and Science, Raipur, Chhattisgarh. This University was established under the Chhattisgarh Niji Kshetra Vishwavidyalaya Act, 2002, an enactment by the Chhattisgarh State Legislature. The University and its courses were recognized by the State of Chhattisgarh and the Central Government at the time the appellants completed their degrees.
Subsequently, in a writ filed by Professor Yash Pal, the Supreme Court, via its judgment dated February 11, 2005, declared the 2002 Act to be ultra vires on the grounds of legislative incompetence. Later, in 2009, the State of Bihar issued an advertisement for the recruitment of librarians, and the appellants were selected and appointed. However, their services were later terminated on August 22, 2015, following a directive from the Education Department, on the grounds that their degrees were from a university established under an Act that had been struck down. The appellants challenged this termination before the High Court, but, in vain.
Appearances:
Senior Advocate Navniti Prasad Singh, AORs Rizwan Ahmad and Gopal Jha, along with Advocates Abdul Wasih, Abhishek Kumar, Shakeel Ahmed, Amir Kaleem, Himanshu Gupta, Mohd Shoeb Ansari, Jitesh Kumar, Umesh Kumar Yadav, Shireesha Sharma, Sawan Datta, Tilak Vij, Nimish Arjaria, and Shreyash Bhardwaj, for the Appellant
AOR Samir Ali Khan, along with Advocates Pranjal Sharma and Kashif Irshad Khan, for the Respondent
