Sudesh Kumari v. State of Haryana & Anr.

CORAM:- HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH *** Present:- Mr.A.K.Goyal, Advocate, for the petitioner. *** AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. (Oral) Petitioner has approached this Court asserting that her candidature for appointment to the post of Post-Graduate Teacher in Mathematics has been wrongly rejected by the Interview Committee on the ground that her experience certificate is not counter-signed by the District Education Officer and the Director Secondary Education, as required under Notes 2 and 3 of the advertisement dated 7.6.2012, vide which applications were invited for appointment to the various posts of Post-Graduate Teachers. This, counsel for the petitioner, contends is not in accordance with the eligibility criteria which has been laid down in the advertisement under the heading 'Common To All Posts'. He contends that for seeking exemption from qualifying the Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test, reference has been made to Note 2, according to which, the only requirement is that a C.W.P.No.21017 of 2012 -2- candidate should have worked for minimum four years till 11.4.2012 in privately managed Government aided schools, recognized schools and Government schools. Apart from that the candidate should be in service on

11.4.2012 on the post he is applying for. Note 3 would not be applicable which has been made the basis for rejecting the candidature of the petitioner as the said note only applies to the case where relaxation in the upper age limit is claimed under the sub-heading 'Age' of the heading 'Common To All Posts' of the advertisement. He accordingly, contends that non- interviewing the petitioner by the respondents and instead rejecting her candidature is not sustainable. This contention of the counsel for the petitioner cannot be accepted. The heading 'Common To All Posts', as per the advertisement dated 7.6.2012 reads 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 subjct. (b) Certificate of having qualified Haryana 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 (See Note-2). (c ) Consistent good academic record ( See Note-1). C.W.P.No.21017 of 2012 -3- (d) Essential qualification (EQ) is given with each post. . Age:- 18-40 years, relaxation as given in special instructions. For Teachers upper age relaxation (See Note-3). . Pay Scale:- Rs.9300-34800 plus grade pay of 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 2 and 3 referred to above under the heading reproduced above, read as follows:- “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 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 terminated automatically. C.W.P.No.21017 of 2012 -4- 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. Note 3. One time exemption certificate for HTET/STET & one time upper age relaxation certificate from Head of the Institute is required to be verified by DEO and counter signed by Director of Secondary Education of the concerned State. One time implies that an applicant can apply only once for a particular category of post in the first advertisement. No such exemption will be granted in the subsequent advertisement.” A perusal of the above and especially Note 3 would leave no manner of doubt that one time exemption certificate from HTET/STET which was based upon the experience certificate of the candidate who had served as a Post Graduate Teacher in a school which is either a privately managed government aided school, recognized school or a government school for a minimum period of four years till 11.4.2012 and was in service on the said post required to be issued by the Head of the Institution and verified by the District Education Officer and counter-signed by the Director of Secondary Education, which admittedly the petitioner has not got done. Having not fulfilled the mandate of the advertisement, the rejection of the candidature of the petitioner is in consonance with law C.W.P.No.21017 of 2012 -5- which does not call for any interference by this Court. Finding no merit in the present writ petition, the same stands dismissed. October 18, 2012 poonam ( AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH ) JUDGE