Telangana High Court has passed a landmark judgment declaring that out-of-state distance education degrees are strictly invalid for state government employment. The ruling clarifies that degrees acquired from distance learning study centers operating outside their university’s home state violate territorial jurisdiction norms and cannot be considered a valid educational qualification for public sector jobs.
The legal battle originated from a 2022 job notification issued by the Telangana Public Service Commission (TGPSC). The commission was looking to fill 71 Librarian vacancies—40 posts under the Commissioner of Intermediate Education and 31 posts under the Commissioner of Technical Education.
Several candidates successfully cleared the initial stages of the examination and made it to the provisional selection list published in September 2024. However, their dreams of securing a government job hit a roadblock during the certificate verification phase in August 2024.
Authorities discovered that these candidates had obtained their Masters in Library Science (MLiSc) through distance education from Acharya Nagarjuna University (ANU), which is based in Andhra Pradesh. While ANU's jurisdiction is legally confined to the Guntur and Prakasam districts of AP, the candidates had attended study centers physically located within the state of Telangana. TGPSC immediately disqualified them.
The affected candidates initially approached a single judge of the High Court and secured a favorable order, arguing that similar out-of-state distance degrees were accepted during previous recruitments in 2017.
However, the TGPSC appealed the decision. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin overturned the single judge’s ruling, putting their foot down on the issue of territorial limitations.
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