IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Writ Petition No.2092 of 2009 (M/S) Sunil Kumar Goyal & another ………..Petitioners Versus Union of India & others …….Respondents Shri Kishore Kumar, Advocate holding brief of Shri M.C. Pant, learned counsel for the petitioners. Shri V.B.S. Negi, Assistant Solicitor General for Union of India/respondent nos.1, 3 and 6. Shri I.P. Kohli, learned counsel for the respondent no.2. Shri Niranjan Bhatt, Advocate holding brief of Shri J.P. Sharma, learned counsel for the respondent nos.4 & 5. Dated: 03rd August, 2010 Hon’ble V.K. Bist, J. Heard learned counsel for the parties. Present petition has been filed by the petitioners for the following reliefs: a) “Issue a writ order or direction in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondents to grant the recognition of B.Sc. Degree for the Session 2004-06 of M.P. Bhoj (Open) University, deciding the matter relating to the recognition of B.Sc. Degree of M.P. Bhoj (Open) University which is under consideration before the respondent authority since long time. b) Issue a writ order or direction in the nature of Mandamus directing the respondent no.6 to permit the petitioners to participate in the competitive examination (LDCE) (Promotion) 2009 for the post of Senior Technical Assistant “B” on the basis of their degree obtained by them till the decision taken by the DEC on post facto approval. c) Issue any other direction or order as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper under the circumstances of the case. d) Award costs of the writ petition to the petitioner.” 2 Brief facts of the case, as stated in the petition, are that the petitioner no.1 was appointed as a Store Keeper in the Machine Research and Development Institute Raipur, Dehradun on 18.04.1990 and was promoted as Senior Assistant. The petitioner no.2 was appointed as a Helper on 19.07.1991 and was promoted as Attendant Lab Senior. The petitioners have obtained B.Sc. Degree with the subjects Botany, Chemistry and Zoology through Distance Education from the Madhya Pradesh Bhoj Open University in the year 2006. The petitioners have applied for the post of Senior Technical Assistant “A” through LDCE-2008 under DRTC but the department sent a letter dated 21.08.2008 to the petitioners that their eligibility on the basis of their qualification for appearing in the Limited Departmental Competitive Examination (LDCE) 2008 for the post of Technical Assistant “A” does not meet as per the letter of Indira Gandhi National Open University vide F.No. DEC/OU/Recog/2008 dated 08.04.2008. The Education Officer (DL) Govt. of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development of Higher Education Distance Learning Division sent a letter dated 07.11.2008 to the Secretary Higher Education Department, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal, to take the necessary action in the matter relating to the recognition of their B.Sc. Degree. On 24.07.2009, the respondent no.5 issued an advertisement for the appointment on the post of Senior Technical Assistant “B” through competitive examination (LDCE) (Promotion) 2009 in which the petitioners applied for the said post but due to the non recognition of the petitioners’ degree the department has not authorized the petitioners to appear in the said examination. Learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that petitioners have passed their degree course from M.P. Bhoj (Open) University, which is a recognized University and as such the petitioners are entitled to appear in departmental promotional examination. Shri V.B.S. Negi, learned Assistant Solicitor General for Union of India submitted that there is no such Department named as Director (Machine), Research and Development Institute Raipur Dehradun. Therefore, counter affidavit could not be filed. He further submitted that however, there is a Department named as Instruments Research Development Establishment (IRDE) and he may be given time for seeking instructions from this department. During the course of arguments, the learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners have submitted an application on 09.07.2010 before the respondent no.6 for permitting them to appear in the departmental examination for promotion in STA ‘B’ Examination. He prayed that direction be issued to the respondent no.6 to consider the application of the petitioners dated 09.07.2010. Learned counsel for the respondents states that respondents have no objection in case such directions is issued to the respondents. Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of with a direction to respondent no.6 to decide the application 4 of the petitioner dated 09.07.2010 in accordance with law within a period of three weeks from the date of production of certified copy of the order. Miscellaneous application no.5817 of 2010 also stands disposed of. (V.K. Bist, J.) Arpan 03.08.2010