Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court on Thursday directed the state authorities to allow some 750-odd candidates, who narrowly failed the last Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) by a couple of marks, to participate in the ongoing recruitment process for 11,000 primary teachers on certain conditions and giving an undertaking.Justice Nirzar Desai ordered the director of primary education to allow the group of petitioners to fill the application form and accept those applications in physical mode, as April 24 is the deadline to apply, which is possible online only. As many as seven petitions were filed by different groups of candidates, who fell short of the qualifying cut-off by a small margin, mostly by at least two marks. As they could not apply for the posts, they approached the HC, raising multiple grievances about the conduct of TET in 2025. They alleged printing mistakes, discrepancies across English, Gujarati and Hindi versions of question papers, and disputed certain answer keys. One of the groups also challenged govt resolutions, contending they had cleared TET prior to 2021 but were affected by the five-year validity rule after failing in 2025. The state govt opposed the petition and submitted that after heeding their grievances, grace marks were awarded to all the candidates, and that permitting non-qualified candidates into recruitment would be unfair to others, encourage similar litigation, and create uncertainty for all qualified candidates. After hearing the arguments, the court weighed that about 11,000 primary teacher vacancies were being filled and the petitioners seeking participation were around 750. It said, “…in case if a recruitment drive whereby around 11,000 posts of primary teachers are sought to be filled up, the petitioners would be deprived participating in such a big recruitment drive even if they succeed ultimately in the respective petitions and in that case, they will not be in a position to taste the fruits of success in the present group of petitions.” The high court ordered authorities to allow these candidates to participate in the recruitment process, provided the latter submit an undertaking to the director of primary education. This statement must clarify that participation establishes no legal right or equity, and no appointment can be claimed unless the candidates succeed in their petitions and satisfy all final criteria.
