Court ruled that applicants' eligibility should be reassessed based on CTET qualifications obtained post-application cutoff due to administrative delays.

ORDER

Hon'ble Dr. Sumeet Jerath, Member (A):

The instant OA has been filed by 30 applicants under Section 19 of the Administrative Tribunals Act , 1985 seeking the following reliefs:-

“i) Quash and set aside the rejection notices mentioned in para (1) of OA and;

(ii) Direct the Govt. of NCT of Delhi to refer the case of applicants to the Central Government for grant of relaxation in the matter of CTET qualification up to the date of declaration of result by DSSSB in terms of Section 23 (2) of the RTE Act, 2009 and;

(iii) Direct the Central Government to consider the case of the applicants for grant of relaxation in the qualification of CTET up to the date of declaration of their result by DSSSB, in terms of Section 23 (2) of the RTE Act, 2009 and;

(iv) Declare the action of respondents declaring applicants 'ineligible' on account of not having CTET qualification on cut-off-date as arbitrary and illegal.

(v) Direct the respondents to treat the applicants as 'eligible' candidates for appointment in their respective Post Codes and further appoint them in their respective Post Code with all consequential benefits including seniority, arrears etc.

(vi) allow the OA with cost and;

(vii) pass such other and further orders which their lordships of this Hon'ble Tribunal deem fit and proper in the existing facts and circumstances of the case.”

2. The applicants are aggrieved by their rejection notice Nos. 24, 26, 28 and 30 for the post codes 116/12 and 117/12. They participated in the recruitment exercise conducted by the DSSSB for the Directorate of Education for the posts of TGT (Sanskrit) and TGT (Hindi) for both Male and Female categories. Counsel for the applicants submitted that the only reasoning advanced by the DSSSB for rejecting their candidature is that their CTET i.e. the Central Teacher Eligibility Test, was obtained by them beyond the cut off date. The factual matrix of the case as per the counsel of the applicants is that vide recruitment advertisement no. 2/12 the DSSSB initiated the selection process. As the applicants were eligible except the condition of having CTET qualification on the cut off date, they applied for the aforesaid posts. They were serving as Guest Teachers with the respondents and were otherwise fully eligible for appointment as they had appeared in the CTET examination conducted by CBSE during the years 2012, 2013 and 2014. However, due to late declaration of the result of CTET by the CBSE, the applicants could not qualify the CTET before the cut off date. He however submitted that the applicants are fully qualified as they have cleared the CTET qualification before the declaration of the final result of the recruitment.

He added that this issue is no more res integra as the same has already been decided and considered by this Tribunal and by the Hon’ble High Court in various decisions. To support his claim, counsel for the applicants relied on the decision of this Tribunal in OA No 1910/2024 - Chandan Sharma vs. DSSSB & Others dated 16.05.2025 wherein, upon considering the facts and circumstances of that case, the OA had been allowed and the following directions had been issued :

“25. In view of the above, the present OA is allowed with the following directions:-

i. Impugned order dated 05.07.2023 (Annexure-A/1) is quashed and set aside;

ii. The respondents are directed to consider the candidature of the applicant for the purpose of Special Education Teacher (Post Code No. 146/14) in the Directorate of Education under the respondent no. 2;

iii. The respondents are also directed to accept the CTET qualification certificate dated 09.10.2014 of the applicant for the Post Code 146/14;

iv. The respondents sh