Allahabad High Court upholds UPPSC’s decision to bar physiotherapy graduate from Food Safety Officer interview
Lucknow:
The Allahabad High Court has ruled that a Bachelor’s degree in Physiotherapy cannot be considered equivalent to a Bachelor’s degree in Medicine (MBBS) under the U.P. Food Safety and Drug Administration Department (Food Safety Cadre) Service Rules, 2012. The court upheld the decision of the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission (UPPSC) to reject a candidate with a physiotherapy degree for the post of Food Safety Officer.
Justice Ajit Kumar, delivering the judgment, stated that neither the Medical Council of India nor the State or Central Government had recognized physiotherapy as equivalent to a medical degree required under the service rules.
Petitioner’s Argument Rejected
The petitioner, a graduate in Physiotherapy from Integral University, Lucknow, had cleared the written examination for the 2014 recruitment but was barred from the interview. She argued that physiotherapy falls under the broader scope of “medicine” and cited a 2014 UGC notification classifying it under “Health and Allied Sciences.” She also highlighted that her curriculum included medical subjects like surgery, neurology, orthopaedics, and rehabilitation.
However, the court sided with the UPPSC and State Government’s stand that only an MBBS degree—recognized under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956—qualifies as a “degree in medicine” for recruitment under the said service rules.
Court: Determining Equivalence Not in Judicial Domain
The bench emphasized that determining academic equivalence is not a judicial function but one reserved for expert statutory bodies and government authorities.
“It is either for the State Government to recognize a physiotherapy degree as equivalent to a degree in medicine, or for the Medical Council of India to notify it as such. In absence of any such recognition, this Court cannot direct the Commission to treat the petitioner’s degree as equivalent,” the judgment stated.
The Court also noted that it could have referred the matter to the appropriate government authority had the petitioner sought such a direction. However, since no such prayer was made—and the recruitment process from the 2014 advertisement is already complete—the court declined to intervene further.
Final Verdict
With this judgment, the Court reaffirmed the importance of strict adherence to prescribed qualification norms in public recruitment processes and rejected the plea to equate physiotherapy qualifications with those of MBBS for government job eligibility.
