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SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, Manoj Misra, JJ.
Soumen Paul & Ors. – Appellants
Versus
Shrabani Nayek & Ors. – Respondents
Civil Appeal No. 4977 of 2025 Arising Out of SLP (C) No. 12660 of 2023 With Civil Appeal No. 4978 of 2025 Arising Out of SLP (C) No. of 2025 Arising Out of Diary No. 25090/2023, Civil Appeal No. 4979 of 2025 Arising Out of SLP (C) No. 25324 of 2023
Decided On : 04-04-2025
Service Law – Appointment – Post of Assistant Teachers in Primary Schools in State of West Bengal – Intendment of Rule 6(2) of Recruitment Rules, 2016 is only to declare that qualifications as prescribed by NCTE and that are prevailing on the date of publication of recruitment notification should be possessed by candidate – Purpose and object of rule is not at all to declare a cut-off date for obtaining qualifications – If there is no cut-off date appointed by rules then such date as may be appointed for the purpose of advertisement calling for applications – If there is no such date appointed then eligibility criteria shall be with reference to last date appointed by which applications have to be received – Recruitment notification occupies important position in recruitment process – Candidates participating in selection process must be informed of rules and regulations that would apply for considering eligibility of participants – It is an important principle of transparency, intended to prevent illegality and arbitrariness in executive action – Qualifications must be possessed as per those prescribed in rules or notification and in absence of both, by reference to last date appointed for receiving applications – Single Judge of High Court was not compromising on standard prescribed for appointment – It is nobody’s case that unqualified persons will be appointed – Direction of Single Judge enabled candidates such as appellant who were at verge of completing course to participate in selection process, and they would have been appointed only upon attaining prescribed qualifications – Judgment of Division Bench set aside. [West Bengal Primary School Teachers Recruitment Rules, 2016 – Rule 6] (Paras 20, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32 and 33)
Facts of the case:
Issue involved in this case relates to appointments to Post of Assistant Teachers in Primary Schools in State of West Bengal. This post is governed by West Bengal Primary School Teachers Recruitment Rules, 2016, and qualifications for appointment to said post are prescribed in Rule 6.
Findings of Court:
All applications for impleadment are dismissed as withdrawn. Applicants are permitted to avail such remedies as are available to them in law. If remedies are invoked, their prayers will be considered and disposed of by the respective Courts or Tribunals on their own merits.
Result : Appeals allowed.
JUDGMENT :
PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA, J.
1. Leave Granted.
2. The issue involved in this case relates to the appointments to the post of assistant teachers in primary schools in the State of West Bengal. This post is governed by the West Bengal Primary School Teachers Recruitment Rules, 2016,1[Framed under the West Bengal Primary Education Act, 1973] and the qualifications for appointment to the said post are prescribed in Rule 6 which is extracted below for ready reference:
(2) The candidate shall possess the minimum educational qualifications specified by the National Council for Teacher Education and the notification relating to eligibility of candidates issued by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy, Government of India (hereafter referred to as MHRD), from time to time, read with the relaxed qualifications issued by that Ministry from time to time and passed the TET.
(3) In the matter of appointment, priority shall be given to those eligible candidates who possess the minimum qualifications as specified by the National Council for Teacher Education and MHRD and thereafter, the eligible candidates with the relaxed qualification specified by the MHRD, may be considered and if candidates with relaxed qualifications are considered as teachers, such teachers under the relaxed qualification norms shall be appointed with an undertaking to acquire the minimum qualifications specified in the National Council for Teacher Education within a period of 2 years from the date of appointment.”
3. In this case, we are concerned with sub-rule (2) of Rule 6. This sub-rule was later amended by a notification dated 22.12.2020 in the following terms:
4. As is evident from the above, the minimum qualifications specified in Rule 6 of Recruitment Rules, 2016 will be those that are prescribed by the National Council for Teachers Education,2[Hereinafter referred to as the ‘NCTE’/‘council’] a body constituted under the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 19933[Hereinafter referred to as the “NCTE Act]. In exercise of the power conferred by sub- section (1) of section 23 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, by notification dated 23.08.20104[F. No. 61-03/20/2010/NCTE(N&S)] the NCTE laid down the minimum qualification for a person to be appointed as a teacher for class I to class VIII. The qualifications were amended from time to time, and the qualifications that were prevailing at the time when the recruitment notification for appointment of assistant teachers (primary) in the State of West Bengal was issued, were those prescribed by NCTE in its notification dated 29.07.2011.5[F. No. 61-1/2011/NCTE(N&S)] The relevant portion of the said prescription is extracted hereinbelow for ready reference:
(i) Classes I-V
a) Senior Secondary (or its equivalent) with at least 50% marks and 2-year Diploma in Elementary Education (by whatever name known)
OR
Senior Secondary (or its equivalent) with at least 45% marks and 2-year Diploma in Elementary Education (by whatever name known), in accordance with the NCTE (Recognition Norms and Procedure), Regulations 2002.
OR
Senior Secondary (or its equivalent) with at least 50% marks and 4-year Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El. Ed.)
OR
Senior Secondary (or its equivalent) with at least 50% marks and 2-year Diploma in Education (Special Education).
OR
Graduation and two year Diplom
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