Madras HC dismisses PIL challenging GO on Open University

Updated on: Friday, March 18, 2011

The Madras High Court dismissed a PIL filed by a police constable challenging a Government Order (GO) denying promotional benefits to those who secured degrees from Open Universities.
M Venkatachalam, the petitioner submitted that he secured Masterâ€™s Degree from an Open University anticipating that it will be taken into consideration for giving promotion in his service career.

However, by virtue of an impugned order dated August 18, 2009, the benefit which had been earlier granted, the Government has "arbitrarily' stopped it.

Dismissing the petition, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam pointed out that it has already dismissed similar petitions challenging the denial of promotion to those who got open university degree.

"M A Degree obtained by a candidate through open university system without securing a bachelor degree is not a valid one. This decision was affirmed by the Supreme Court in the decision of Annamalai University case."

"Thereafter the Tamil Nadu Government appears to have constituted an equivalence committee consisting of experts in educational field and they gave a firm opinion that a person who has secured bachelors degree in Open University system can not be treated as that equivalent to that of a degree after he has completed ten plus two years of schooling."

"We find absolutely no error in the impugned order more particularly when the same had been passed after the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Annamalai University", the bench said.

The Judges said "in this case herein does not have any formal education and has directly secured a degree from an open university system and such degree at no point of time can be regarded as a degree obtained by undergoing regular course of study in full time course or under the distance education system".

Madras HC dismisses PIL challenging GO on Open University

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