Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh high court has ruled that a degree accepted by a university for PhD enrolment was also valid for employment. The order follows a petition filed by Seema Sharma, a guest faculty at the Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan.

The petitioner challenged the university’s decision to deny her marks for her MSc in botany degree during the selection process for the post of assistant professor (forest products).

Justice Sandeep Sharma, in his order, observed that “once the university accepted the MSc degree (botany) for the enrolment of the petitioner in the PhD programme in the subject of forestry, medicinal and aromatic plants, there was no occasion for the interview committee to not grant marks to the petitioner for her having done MSc in botany“.

The high court also ordered the university to consider the candidature of the petitioner against a vacant post of assistant professor and grant her marks for the MSc degree.

According to the petition, at the time of her enrolment for the PhD course in the Y S Parmar University, the petitioner was awarded marks for MSc in botany. However, while considering her candidature for the post of assistant professor (forest products), which was advertised on June 9, 2022, the petitioner was not awarded any marks for her MSc in botany degree, and she was not placed in the merit list.

Upon making enquiries, the petitioner came to know that she was not selected for the post as she did not do a master’s degree in forest products, and her MSc degree in botany was not counted by the university.

During the hearing of the case, the counsel for the petitioner, senior advocate Sanjeev Bhushan, argued that as the petitioner was enrolled in PhD (forestry, medicinal and aromatic plants) on the basis of her MSc (botany) degree, the interview committee now can’t deny her the marks for the same degree in botany.

The counsel further argued that botany was considered an allied discipline and she therefore, was enrolled for the PhD course; hence, now she can’t be denied the marks on the very grounds that made her eligible.

Justice Sharma observed that the records also revealed that even while appointing the petitioner as the guest faculty in the department of forest products, the university granted her marks for her MSc degree in botany.

“If it is so, then the university could not have adopted a different approach for the post of assistant professor. Leaving everything aside, once MSc in botany was considered as an allied subject for PhD, the university could not have ignored the same while considering her qualifications for the selection of assistant professor,” Justice Sharma mentioned in the order.

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