A candidate availing relaxed qualifying marks for a reserved category remains ineligible for appointment against general/open category vacancies if they do not meet the higher qualifying threshold prescribed for the general category.

THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE K.SARATH WRIT PETITIONNo.13135 of 2024

DATE: 31.03.2026 Between:

Sanjay …Petitioner

AND

1. State of Telangana, rep. by its Principal Secretary, School Education, and two others

…Respondents

ORDER:

The present Writ Petition is filed questioning Memo

No.708/TRT/Rectt.I/4/2017 dated 06.09.2021 issued by Respondent No.2, whereby the candidature of the petitioner for further selection to the post of Secondary Grade Teacher (SGT) in Hindi Medium was rejected on the ground that the petitioner had not secured 40% marks to consider under OC Category which is illegal, arbitrary and in violation of the orders passed by this Court in WP No.45743 of 2019 dated 12.07.2021 and

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sought to set aside the impugned Memo and consequently direct the respondents to appoint him as

Secondary Grade Teacher.

2. Heard Sri G. Ravinder, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri P.S.Raja Shekar, learned Standing

Counsel appearing for Respondent No.2.

3. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the Respondent No.2 issued Notification No.53/2017 dated 21.10.2017 for recruitment of Teachers. Under the said notification, ten (10) vacancies for the post of SGT (Hindi) in Adilabad District were notified, out of which

three (3) were earmarked for OC (G) Local category. In

response thereto, the petitioner applied for the said post and appeared for the examination conducted on 02.03.2018. The petitioner secured 39.500 marks and as per the revised merit list, the petitioner was placed at Rank No.10 in Adilabad District. The petitioner also attended certificate verification on 24.08.2018.

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However, the final selection list was published without including the petitioner’s hall ticket number and only the two candidates were shown as selected under the said category. Aggrieved thereby, the petitioner submitted representation on 05.03.2019 to Respondent No.2. The said representations were rejected on the ground that the petitioner did not secure the minimum qualifying marks of 40% required for selection under the OC (G) category. Challenging the same, the present writ petition is filed and the impugned order is liable to be set aside as the petitioner is eligible for appointment in the unfilled vacancy as the petitioner qualified in the written examination and was subjected to certificate

verification.

4. The learned Standing Counsel, basing on the counter affidavit filed by Respondent No.2, submits that the petitioner had earlier filed W.P. No.4753 of 2019 on similar grounds. The said writ petition was disposed of

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on 12.07.2021 with a direction to the respondents to consider the representation dated 05.03.2019 submitted by the petitioner, duly taking into account Paragraphs ‘8’ and ‘12’ of the Notification dated 21.10.2017 and to pass appropriate orders in accordance with law. In compliance with the said directions, Respondent No.2 issued Memo dated 06.09.2021 informing to the petitioner that he belongs to BC-D category and had secured 39 marks in the written examination. As per the Notification, the petitioner would be eligible for consideration against vacancies earmarked for BC-D category, for which the minimum qualifying marks are 35%. However, no vacancies were notified for BC-D category in Adilabad District. In the absence of BC-D vacancies, the petitioner could only be considered against OC category vacancies, for which the minimum qualifying marks prescribed are 40%. Since the petitioner di