IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH

272 Date of decision: May 12, 2026 DINESH GARG ...Petitioner Versus STATE OF HARYANA AND OTHERS ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE TRIBHUVAN DAHIYA Present: Mr. Ankur Sidhar, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. Parveen Mehta, Additional Advocate General, Haryana.

TRIBHUVAN DAHIYA, J. (ORAL)

The petition has been filed inter alia seeking a writ of certiorari quashing the speaking order dated 03.04.2025, Annexure P-15, whereby the petitioner’s candidature for the post of Trained Graduate Teacher (TGT) English has been rejected on the ground of being overage. Further, a writ of mandamus has been sought directing the respondents to grant age relaxation based upon his experience of serving on the post of Master (Mathematics) as Guest Teacher in a Government Senior Secondary School for the period from 16.10.2006 till 17.05.2023, on the basis of experience certificates to that effect dated 05.09.2009 and 17.05.2023, Annexures P-2 and P-4 respectively. These certificates were duly counter-signed by the District Education Officer, Kurukshetra, and fulfilled all the requisite conditions prescribed under the advertisement.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that he applied for the post of TGT English (RoH cadre) in response to advertisement 2/2023, and participated in the selection process as a General category candidate. He cleared the selection process and appeared for scrutiny of documents on 28.07.2023 against roll no.2236002271. As per details in the short reply, he secured 64.6 marks as against 63.65 of the last recommended candidate in the said category. His date of birth being 25.09.1980, he was forty-two years and five months old on the closing date for submission of the application form, i.e., 15.03.2023. The maximum prescribed age for the post was forty- two years. However, in terms of clause 8(I)(ix) of the Government instructions, dated 25.03.2022, candidates who had already worked or were working on ad hoc/contract/work-charged/daily wages basis in any Department/Board/Corporation of the Government or Government-aided institutions, were entitled to age relaxation equal to the number of completed years of experience on an equivalent post, subject to maximum age of fifty-

two years. The relevant clause reads as under:

8. Relaxation in Age:

As per Haryana Govt. Instructions No. 22/06/2021-1GS- III, Dated 25^th March, 2022, benefit of relaxation in upper age limit, applicable to various categories, is as follows:

(I) Where the upper age limit is 42 years without any relaxation in age the same shall not exceed 52 years for the applicants who are entitled to get the benefit of relaxation in age of one or more categories under various circumstances mentioned below :-

Sr. Categories where No. of years of relaxation No. relaxation is admissible Accordingly, this category of candidates, including teachers of recognised schools, were given age relaxation of five years under clause 8.1 of the advertisement which reads as under:

8.1. Teachers working in privately managed Govt. Aided Schools, recognized schools and Government Schools of Haryana State shall be given age relaxation in upper age limit to the extent of service rendered by them as a teacher subject to a maximum of 5 years once for his/her appointment as per directions of Hon'ble Punjab & Haryana High Court, Chandigarh dated 06.01.2015 passed in CWP No. 20110 of 2014, Som Nath Vs. State of Haryana & Others and for such working teachers, upper age relaxation certificate from Head of the Institute is mandatory and must be verified by BEO/BEEO & counter signed by District Education Officer/District Elementary Education Officer of the concerned district even for CBSE/Central Schools and Navodaya Vidhalaya vide Department Letter No. 15/32-2020TGTR&A (1)

dated 07.09.2022.

2.1. Learned counsel further contends that the petitioner’s candidature has been wrongly rejected on the ground that he is required to possess experience as