DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand high court (HC) has observed that merely studying a certain subject as part of a course doesn't mean the student gets to claim to have a specialisation in it. While dismissing the petition of an applicant who had applied for the post of a scientist at the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) in Dehradun, the HC bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Alok Verma said in a court order issued on April 11, "While applying for a job, a student cannot claim to have a specialisation in a subject if he/she has merely studied it as part of a course". The essential qualification for the post was first-class MSc degree in Chemistry, with a specialisation in organic chemistry. The contender, Saumya Singh Sheeshmukh, had obtained MSc (Chemistry) qualification with CGPA 6.54 (first class) from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University in 2019, and claimed she was fit for the role as she had papers in organic, inorganic and physical chemistry as well as other topics.Sheeshmukh, whose application had been rejected by ICFRE for not meeting their eligibility criteria, argued that "even though her degree did not mention her specialisation in organic chemistry" it was evident from the grade cards issued to her that she had studied it.After looking into the degree certificate and grade cards, the court observed that "the said degree did not state that she had obtained the degree of Master of Science in the subject of organic chemistry.""If a student does BSc (Simple), they cannot claim to have obtained a degree in either Physics (Hons), Chemistry (Hons) or Mathematics (Hons), even though these subjects may have been taught as part of simple BSc. Such a person cannot claim to have specialised in any of these subjects," the court observed.It added, "Since the course offered by the university was MSc (Chemistry) and it is that course which was pursued by the petitioner, she cannot turn around and say she has pursued MSc in Organic Chemistry or MSc (Chemistry) with specialisation in organic chemistry."The court went on to say: "If the petitioner's arguments are accepted today, tomorrow she may claim she has an MSc degree with specialisation in inorganic chemistry".

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Simply studying a subject doesn't earn specialisation: Uttarakhand HC - Indiatimes.com