The Madras High Court recently noted that the UGC recognizes the one-year LLM program and cannot be considered invalid for appointments in public departments or universities. Consequently, the court directed the Teachers Recruitment Board to include the name of a woman candidate whose name had been excluded solely because she had completed a one-year LLM course.
The Expert Committee constituted by the UGC in 2012 introduced the one-year LLM program in 2012. The guidelines provided that Admission to the one-year LL.M. Degree shall be done through an All India Admission Test conducted annually by the Universities individually or by a group of universities collectively. As long as the notification for appointment in a public sector did not prescribe that one of the requirements for the appointment was only a two-year LLM degree, a candidate with a one-year LLM post-graduation certificate cannot be denied appointment.
The present case was a writ petition before the Hon’ble Madras High Court filed to quash the provisional selection list of candidates published by the Teachers Recruitment Board (‘TRB’). The TRB did not consider the candidature of the petitioner on the ground that the petitioner had qualified for an LLM degree by doing a one-year LLM Programme, and the degree required for appointment was two years LLM Programme.
The Court noted that the notification did not explicitly state that only a two-year LLM program was required for appointment. Given that the one-year LLM program is recognized by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and is also accepted for admission into Ph.D. programs, the Court saw no valid reason to disqualify it for appointment purposes.
“As stated already, the one-year LLM Programme has been approved by UGC, and that has been accepted as a qualification to get enrolled in Ph.D. programme in Tamil Nadu Dr.Ambedkar Law University itself. It is needless to state that the University in which the petitioner had done her one year LLM course is one of the most reputed Law School in the country and it is needless to state that one year LLM course would have also included the research aspect as well. Under such circumstances, no invalidation can be attached to one year LLM degree to get appointment in the public departments or Universities” the court said.
Justice R.N. Manjula noted that the appointment notification did not specify that a two-year LLM degree was a mandatory requirement. The court emphasized that while an employer has the right to set educational qualifications for a position, such requirements must not be arbitrary or discriminatory, especially when they create unjust distinctions between comparable courses.
“Even though the employer is a rightful person who should demand the educational requirement for a post to be filled up in this regard, the qualification contemplated by the employer shall not make any arbitrary discrimination between equivalent and similar course without any valid basis,” the court said.
Case Title: Dr. Sangeetha Sriraam v. The Teachers Recruitment Board and Others
Case No: W.P.No.15473 of 2019
