In Brief
A company was recruiting a Company Secretary with the mandatory requirement of five years' post-qualification experience 'as a Company Secretary'. The appellant applied, claiming seven years and three months experience, but during much of this period she held designations as Management Trainee and Assistant Company Secretary, not Company Secretary. Her services were terminated for not meeting the eligibility criteria. The Supreme Court upheld the termination, holding that the word 'as' in the requirement means the candidate must have actually held the position of Company Secretary, not merely performed similar duties. Experience in other designations, even with overlapping responsibilities, cannot satisfy this formal qualification requirement."
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