Diplomas of institutes not affiliated with AICTE not at par with regular one: CAT

The Allahabad Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has stated that engineering diplomas awarded by institutes not affiliated with All India Council of Technical Education (AICTU) cannot be treated at par with regular degree/diploma for the purpose of promotion/employment in defence units.
Dismissing the applications filed by RK Yadav and several others, a division bench, comprising CAT’s administrative member Shashi Prakash and judicial member Jasmine Ahmed, held that there could no deviation or relaxation after the statutory rules had been framed for recruitment and promotion.The Tribunal refused to entertain the plea that the degrees/diplomas obtained from institutes not affiliated with AICTE like Janardan Rai Nagar Rajasthan Vidyapeeth or by distance education mode should be eligible for promotion/employment.
Earlier, the counsel for the applicants Shyamal Narayan had relied upon several communications made by UGC, IGNOU and Union ministry of human resource development to claim otherwise. However, central government counsel SN Chatterji contested the claim of the applicants mainly on the ground that the employment was covered under provisions of statutory recruitment order, which made affiliation to AICTE mandatory.