IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH AT GWALIOR BEFORE HON'BLE SHRI JUSTICE MILIND RAMESH PHADKE th ON THE 11 OF JULY, 2023 WRIT PETITION No. 15877 of 2023 BETWEEN:-

RAHUL SHARMA S/O SHRI PARSHURAM SHARMA, AGED-31 YEARS, OCCUPATION: STUDENT R/O LITTLE FLOWER SCHOOL NEAR K S OIL MILL NAINAGARH ROAD MORENA (MADHYA PRADESH)

.....PETITIONER (BY SHRI RISHABH AGARWAL- ADVOCATE)

AND

1. THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH THROUGH PRINCIPAL SECRETARY SCHOOL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, VALLABH BHAWAN BHOPAL (MADHYA PRADESH)

2. THE COMMISSIONER/ DIRECTOR LOK SHIKSHAN SANCHANALAYA GAUTAM NAGAR, HOUSING BOARD COLONY, BHOPAL (MADHYA PRADESH)

3. EMPLOYEE SELECTION BOARD THROUGH ITS SECRETARY CHAYAN BHAWAN, MAIN ROAD, NO. 1, CHINAR PARK (EAST) BHOPAL (MADHYA PRADESH)

.....RESPONDENTS (BY SHRI PRAVEEN NEWASKAR- DSG FOR R-3 AND SHRI SOHIT MISHRA-

GOVERNMENT ADVOCATE)

This petition coming on for hearing this day, the court passed the following:

ORDER

The present petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been preferred being aggrieved by the action of the respondents in reducing the Signature Not Verified Signed by: CHANDNI qualifying percentage of marks for the Mains Examination of the Teacher Eligibility Test to 40% for the candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC/Handicapped/EWS and 50% for the rest category, whereas in the preliminary Examination the minimum qualifying marks for the candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC/Handicapped/EWS category were 50% and that of other category was 60% which amounts to changing the rules of game before it is concluded. Further challenge has been made to the action of the Respondents on the ground that in the eligibility test the Respondents had cancelled number of questions, but whether proportionate marks of the questions which were cancelled had been given to the candidates has not been disclosed nor it has been disclosed as to how many questions were cancelled.

Brief facts of the case leading to the controversy are that respondent No.3 had issued an advertisement for conducting Teachers Eligibility Test, 2023 for the post of Uchcha Madhyamik Shikshak. The petitioners having all the essential qualifications to appear in the Teacher Eligibility Test, 2023, submitted their application forms. The respondent No.3 issued the Test Admit Card and the petitioners appeared in the said examination. As per the advertisement (Annexure P/1), minimum qualifying marks for the candidates belonging SC/ST/OBC/Handicapped/EWS categories were 50% and for the rest 60% marks were required. The petitioner could not secure the minimum qualifying marks and in the meanwhile, the Department of School Education and Tribal Welfare Department issued an advertisement for Teachers Appointment Examination, 2023. In the Departmental Rules appended to the advertisement in clause 9, it was mentioned that for the candidates belonging to SC/ST/OBC/Handicapped/EWS the minimum qualifying the marks would be 40% and for the rest it would be 50%. Aggrieved by the said reduction in the Signature Not Verified Signed by: CHANDNI qualifying marks, the present petition has been filed.

Learned counsel for the petitioner has vehemently argued that the Teachers Eligibility Test, 2023 consists of two examinations; preliminary and mains and for a candidate belonging to SC/ST/OBC/Handicapped/EWS the minimum qualifying marks is 50% of marks and the same candidate in the main examination has to secure only 40% marks which is highly discriminatory as the rules does not prescribe any change in the qualifying marks in the preliminary and main examination. It is further submitted that the said change in the minimum qualifying marks during the course of the examination is per se illegal and is against the settled principle of law that in the midst of any selection process the criteria/rules regarding selection cannot be changed and since the reduction of the minimum qualifying marks in the mains examination is highly prejudicial to the interest of the present petitioners, the present p