Supreme Court Says Degree Title Irrelevant If Candidate Has Studied Required Core Subjects

The Supreme Court held that a candidate cannot be disqualified merely because their postgraduate degree carries a different title, if the required principal subject was part of their curriculum.

The Court reinstated an M.Com graduate whose appointment as Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant was terminated for not holding a formal PG degree in Statistics, even though he studied Business Statistics and Indian Economic Statistics as principal subjects.

It observed that insisting on a non-existent degree, such as “M.Com (Statistics)”, creates an impossible standard, and that eligibility must be interpreted contextually.

The appeal was accordingly allowed.

[Laxmikant Sharma v. State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors.]