New Delhi: Can a authorities worker be terminated from service for suppressing details about possessing greater {qualifications} than the prescribed diploma for the job?
The Supreme Courtroom on Tuesday agreed to look at a Telangana Excessive Courtroom verdict which upheld the Centre’s determination to terminate the service of an worker from the Scheduled Tribe neighborhood who had allegedly suppressed the knowledge of being ‘intermediate go’ than the prescribed Class 19 go standards required for the job of ‘work assistant’.
A bench of Justice P.S. Narasimha, Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Shree Chandershekar issued discover to the Centre on a plea of Pawar Subhash, who has challenged the order of the Excessive Courtroom dated November 27, 2025, PTI reported.
“This judgment is prima facie mistaken. We’ll study the judgment. There may be already a Supreme Courtroom judgment which says that greater qualification can’t be a floor for disqualification,” the bench informed counsel showing for Subhash.
The Excessive Courtroom in its verdict had famous that the petitioner had utilized for the submit of labor assistant for which the prescribed qualification was Class 10 go and didn’t disclose that he had cleared his intermediate examination.
It had mentioned that Subhash handed Class 10 in 2003 and Intermediate in 2006 and utilized for the submit on July 26, 2010.
The Excessive Courtroom mentioned based mostly on the declaration made by Subhash, he was shortlisted for the job. On Could 25, 2013, he submitted a declaration disclosing that he had handed the Intermediate examination.
It mentioned treating this as “willful suppression” of fabric data on the stage of software and through subsequent verification course of, the union authorities terminated his companies on Could 27, 2013.
Subhash challenged the termination order earlier than the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which put aside the order dated Could 27, 2013 and remanded the matter, directing the Centre to rethink the side of holding him in public employment, for which he was in any other case certified, and to go a talking order.
The federal government handed an in depth talking order dated April 30, 2022, that the petitioner was unsuitable for public employment and reiterated that he had intentionally repeatedly suppressed his greater qualification within the software kind, enterprise and declaration.
The federal government concluded that the act of suppression clearly exhibited an absence of integrity of the petitioner which makes him unsuitable for public employment and rejected the declare of the petitioner. The order of the federal government was once more challenged earlier than the tribunal, however this time the choice was upheld on the bottom that petitioner’s suppression was intentional and deliberate.
Aggrieved by the choice of the tribunal, Subhash moved the Excessive Courtroom and took the bottom that the suppression, if any, was not of a ‘materials reality’.
He relied on two apex courtroom selections that the possession of a better qualification was not a floor for disqualification.
His counsel contended earlier than the Excessive Courtroom that the termination of his companies on account of the petitioner possessing the Intermediate qualification is shockingly disproportionate and violative of Articles 14, 16 and 21 of the Structure.
Subhash’s counsel submitted that he belonged to a Scheduled Tribe neighborhood and hailed from a distant space and didn’t possess the requisite consciousness concerning procedural formalities and the next disclosure by him in Could, 2013 of getting handed intermediate was voluntary and demonstrated his bona fides.
The Excessive Courtroom didn’t agree with the submissions and mentioned as a result of a big quantity of functions for the submit, the federal government exercised the precise to limit the variety of candidates on the idea of upper qualification and screened out roughly 45 per cent (about 14,000) candidates who possessed qualification above tenth go.
It mentioned the petitioner’s Intermediate qualification was not irrelevant and was a selected standards that will have and within the case of 45 per cent of functions, did result in the applying being screened out on the preliminary stage itself.
“Additional, by declaring that the petitioner solely possessed SSC (tenth go) qualification, the petitioner circumvented the screening course of. The petitioner secured a spot within the written examination and the next course of, which he won’t have secured within the occasion of his having made a truthful declaration of possessing Intermediate qualification,” it had mentioned.
It mentioned in issues of public employment, the method should be honest, clear and equitable to all candidates and the candidate who positive factors entry by means of suppression or misrepresentation taints your complete course of.
