The controversy concerning eligibility for appointment to teaching posts raises an important question of legal authority: can an administrative communication override or enlarge a qualification prescribed by statutory Regulations? The issue assumes particular significance in relation to a UGC communication dated 05.03.1992, relied upon in Dr. Rajbir Singh Dalal v. Chaudhari Devi Lal University, (2008) 9 SCC 284, concerning the alleged interchangeability of Political Science and Public Administration. The subsequent decision in Ganapath Singh Gangaram Singh Rajput v. Gulbarga University, decided on 1 November 2013, expressly clarified that the Supreme Court had not held Political Science to be the relevant subject for appointment as Lecturer in Public Administration. The documentary record requires a further distinction. Two different UGC communications bear the date 05.03.1992 and arise from different references. One concerns the alleged interchangeability of Political Science and Public Administration; the other concerns teaching/research experience for appointment as Professor. They must not be conflated. The M.D. University Academic Council, by Resolution No. 32 dated 06.06.1992, considered the proposal of interchangeability and resolved that Political Science and Public Administration were separate departments and that teachers should possess the qualifications of the respective discipline. The central argument of this article is that authentication of an administrative communication is not the same as conferring upon it the force of a statutory Regulation. Section 11 of the UGC Act, 1956 concerns authentication of orders and other instruments of the Commission; it does not, by itself, convert every authenticated communication into delegated legislation. Read with Sant Ram Sharma v. State of Rajasthan, AIR 1967 SC 1910, Dr. Rajinder Singh v. State of Punjab, (2001) 5 SCC 482, and Ganapath Singh, the principle is clear: academic relationship may be relevant academically, but legal eligibility must ultimately be determined by the competent statutory or regulatory instrument.