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.