Punjab-Haryana High Court
Dr. Govind And Others vs State Of Haryana And Another on 6 August, 2012
Author: Augustine George Masih
Bench: Augustine George Masih
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH
CWP No. 14913 of 2012
Date of Decision : 6.8.2012
Dr. Govind and others ....... Petitioners
Versus
State of Haryana and another ..... Respondents
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH
Present:- Mr. Harish Bhardwaj, Advocate, for the petitioners.
AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. (ORAL)
Petitioners have approached this Court praying for issuance of a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to accept the application forms of the petitioners for the posts of PGT in their respective subjects i.e. Commerce, Sociology, Mathematics and Geography respectively, in view of the advertisement dated 7.6.2012 (Annexure-P-1) issued by the Haryana State Teachers Selection Board-respondent No. 2 and with a further direction that petitioners be permitted to participate in the process of written test/interview.
It is the contention of the counsel for the petitioners that petitioners have not qualified the Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test (in short 'HTET') and initially when the advertisement was issued, petitioners were not eligible. However, on issuance of a corrigendum dated 3.7.2012 (Annexure-P-2), para-4 whereof deals with the transitional provision which provides for an exemption that persons fulfilling the condition of qualifications as per the Haryana State Education Lecturer School Cadre CWP No. 14913 of 2012 -2- (Group 'C') Service Rules,1998 (in short '1998 Rules') shall be eligible for recruitment as one time measure, however, such persons shall have to qualify HTET eligibility test and B.Ed. by 1.4.2015 and in case they fail to do so, their appointments shall terminate automatically. Under this clause, the petitioners contend that their entitlement to be considered for appointment as they fulfil the qualifications as prescribed under the 1998 Rules. Prayer has thus been made for allowing the present writ petition.
I have considered the submissions made by the counsel for the petitioners and with his assistance have gone through the records of the case.
The contention which has been raised by the counsel for the petitioners that the petitioners fulfil the eligibility criteria as per rules and the corrigendum issued therein and in the light of the transitional provision, petitioners should be held eligible for appointment to the respective posts they applied for, has been considered in a similar case by this Court in CWP No. 12914 of 2012 titled as Rakesh Makol and others Versus State of Haryana and another, decided on 13.7.2012, wherein it was held as follows :-
" Prior to notification dated 11.04.2012, vide which Government of Haryana notified the Haryana State Education School Cadre (Group B) Service Rules, 2012 (hereinafter referred to as '2012 Rules'), the Rules governing the field were the Haryana State Education Lecturer School Cadre (Group C) Service Rules, 1998 (hereinafter referred to as '1998 Rules'), according to which, qualifications prescribed for the post of Lecturer were as follows:-
"i) M.A./M.Sc (in relevant subject) with at least 50% marks from a recognized University.
ii) Knowledge of Hindi Up to Matric standard."CWP No. 14913 of 2012 -3-
With the coming into force of the 2012 Rules, now the post of Lecturer (School Cadre) is known as Post Graduate Teacher in the respective subject. The qualification prescribed is mentioned in Column No. (3) of Appendix-B under Rule 7 of 2012 Rules, which reads as follows:-
"i) M.Sc Physics / Applied Physics / Nuclear Physics / Electronics Physics with at least 50% marks and B.Ed. from a recognized University And
ii) Matric with Hindi/Sanskrit or 10+2/BA/MA with Hindi as one of the subject And
iii) Certificate of having qualified Haryana Teacher Eligibility Test (HTET) School Teachers Eligibility Test (STET).
iv) Consistent good academic record."
While comparing the two sets of Rules i.e. 1998 Rules and 2012 Rules, it comes out that now under the applicable Rules, B.Ed., Matric with Hindi/Sanskrit or 10+2/BA/MA with Hindi as one of the subjects from a recognized university and certificate of having qualified HTET/STET as also consistent good academic record basically stand added. Thus, there is a change in the qualifications now, although the basic qualification of Post Graduate degree in relevant subject has been retained but additions have been made thereto. Advertisement dated 07.06.2012 was issued by the Board, wherein on-line applications were invited for recruitment for the PGT in various subjects. Some conditions were kept common for all posts, which read as follows:-
"COMMON TO ALL POSTS Eligibility (a) Matric with Hindi/Sanskrit or 10+2/B.A./M.A. with Hindi as one of the subject.
(b) Certificate of having qualified Haryana CWP No. 14913 of 2012 -4- Teacher Eligibility Test (HTET)/School Teachers Eligibility Test (STET) of respective subject for the post applied, conducted by Board of School Education Haryana, Bhiwani/One time exemption of HTET.
(c) Consistent good academic record.
(d) Essential qualification (EQ) is given with each post.
Age:- 18-40 years, relaxation as given in special instructions. For Teachers upper age relaxation.
Pay Scale:- Rs. 9300-34800 plus grade pay Rs. 4800/- Fee:- The rate of fee is Rs. 500/- for General candidates and Rs. 125/- for SC/BC/ESM/PHC candidates of Haryana State. The fee should be deposited in any branch of State Bank of India under code/account number 32307173537 for reserved category of Haryana State and 32306718279 for General Category."
Notes 1 and 2 at the end of the advertisement, which relate to clause (b) and (c) under the heading 'eligibility', read as follows:-
"Note 1: Consistent good academic record implying that out of the lower qualification i.e. Matric/10+2/Graduation than requisite minimum qualification, one must secure at least 50% marks in two lower exams and 45% marks in third lower exam. If there are only two lower exams, than one must secure at least 50% marks in one exam and 45% marks in another.
Note 2: A one time exemption of HTET/STET has been granted to the candidates who have worked for minimum 4 years till 11.04.2012 in privately managed Govt. Aided Schools, Recognized Schools and Govt. Schools. Candidate CWP No. 14913 of 2012 -5- must be in service on 11.04.2012 in addition to being in position on the date of applying for the said post. They will have to qualify HTET not later than 1st April 2015 otherwise their services will be terminated automatically. Qualification/eligibility conditions and certificates will be determined with regard to last date fixed for submission of online applications also called as closing date given in the advertisement."
Corrigendum dated 03.07.2012 (Annexure P-5) was issued consequent upon amendment of the 2012 Rules and the Mewat District School Education (Group-B) Service Rules, 2012 vide notification dated 02.07.2012 which modified the advertisement partially, which reads as follows:-
"2. Under heading "COMMON TO ALL POSTS-
Eligibility" point (c) Consistent good academic record and Note-1 shall be omitted.
3. Under heading "COMMON TO ALL POSTS-
Eligibility" after point (b) the following point C (i) and (ii) shall be inserted, namely:-
(c) (i) The candidates who have worked as teachers for a minimum four years till 11.04.2012 in privately managed Government aided schools, Recognized Schools and Government Schools and must be in service on 11.04.2012, in addition to being in position on the date of applying for the said post, are exempted to acquire qualifications of passing HTET/STET and B.Ed. as one time measure.
(c) (ii) A person who has passed STET/HTET without the qualification of B.Ed. before the date i.e. 11.04.2012 of notification of Service Rules concerned, shall also be considered eligible for the post of PGT as one time measure in the first recruitment.
4. Transitional provision:- Person fulfilling conditions of qualifications as per old Rules of Haryana State Education CWP No. 14913 of 2012 -6- Lecturer School Cadre (Group-C) Service Rules, 1998 shall also eligible for recruitment as a one time measure. Provided that such person shall have to qualify the Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test (HTET) and B.Ed. by 1st April, 2015 and if he fails to do so, his appointment shall stand terminated automatically without giving any further notice.
The relevant subject combinations in relevant posts are as under:-
Under heading "POSTS EXCEPT DISTRICT MEWAT" and POSTS FOR DISTRICT MEWAT ONLY (MWT), Essential Qualification (E.Q.) for PGT mentioned at Category No. 1, 4, 14, 17, 19, 22, 32 and 35 of the above said Advt. may be read as under, as one time measure:-
Cat. No. 1 & 19: PGT Mathematics E.Q. M.A./M.Sc. Math/Mathematics Statistics with at least 50% marks form a recognized university. Cat. No. 4 & 22:PGT Biology E.Q. M.Sc. Biology or Zoology or Botany or Bio-Science or Bio-Chemistry or Genetics or Micro-Biology or Plant Psychology or Bio-Technology with at least 50% marks from a recognized University. Cat. No. 14 & 32:PGT Political Science E.Q. M.A. Political Science or Public Administration with at least 50% marks from a recognized University. Cat. No. 17 & 35: PGT History E.Q. M.A. History or Ancient Indian History and Culture or Culture and Archaeology with at least 50% marks from a recognized University.
5. xxx xxx xxx xxx
6. xxx xxx xxx xxx
7. All other terms and conditions of the Advertisement No. 1/2012 dated 6.6.2012 for the post of PGT will remain same.
CWP No. 14913 of 2012 -7-8. xxx xxx xxx xxx
9. xxx xxx xxx xxx"
In the light of para-4 of the Transitional Provision, petitioners pray their eligibility for competing for the post of PGT as per the advertisement published on 07.06.2012. A perusal of the above para-4 'Transitional Provision' would show that it has to be read as a whole and this Transitional Provision is limited to only four categories of PGT posts i.e. Mathematics, Biology, Political Science and History as in Clause 7, it is clearly mentioned that all other terms and conditions of the advertisement for the PGT will remain the same. The same clarification has been issued which has been termed as 'interpretation of transitional provision' dated 05.07.2012 (Annexure P-6). Thus, for a candidate to be eligible for applying to the post of PGT in pursuance to the advertisement dated 06.06.2012 published on 07.06.2012, the conditions, as provided for under the heading "Common to all posts", will have to be fulfilled and this Transitional provision is only applicable in the category of posts, as specified in corrigendum dated 03.07.2012. As is apparent from the corrigendum dated 03.07.2012, the same has been brought about and has been necessitated in the light of amendment in the statutory Rules governing the service, which came into force vide notification dated 02.07.2012. Since corrigendum incorporates the provisions as contained in the amended statutory Rules, in the absence of challenge to the statutory Rules, the claim of the petitioners, as made in the present writ petition, cannot sustain.
A contention has been raised by the counsel for the petitioners that relaxation has been granted by the respondents in exercise of Rule 17, which is unjust, unreasonable and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India. This contention of the counsel for the CWP No. 14913 of 2012 -8- petitioners may have some force when it is seen in the light of the initially notified 2012 Rules, on the basis of which, advertisement was published on 07.06.2012 as vide this advertisement in Notes 1 and 2, such relaxation was granted but with the amendment of the statutory Rules vide notification dated 02.07.2012 and thereafter, issuance of the corrigendum dated 03.07.2012, the sting of the argument of the counsel for the petitioners stands blunted. It appears that there has been no relaxation granted by the respondents, as the corrigendum, which has been issued on 03.07.2012, is in accordance with the amendment brought about in the statutory Rules and the exemption, so granted, being a part of the statutory Rules cannot be said to be a relaxation granted by the Government under Rule 17 of the 2012 Rules."
In view of the above, the prayer made by the petitioners in this writ petition cannot be accepted.
Finding no merit in the present writ petition, the same stands dismissed.
(AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH) JUDGE 6.8.2012 sjks