Chandigarh: Punjab and Haryana high court has held that persons appointed or promoted as Post Graduate Trained Teachers (PGTs) in Haryana must compulsorily pass the Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test (HTET)/School Teachers Eligibility Test (STET).A division bench of Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi and Justice Minderjeet Yadav dismissed a bunch of writ petitions filed by Kuldeep Singh and others, challenging the Haryana State Education School Cadre (Group-B) Service Rules, 2012, which prescribe HTET/STET as a compulsory qualification for appointment to PGT posts in the state.“…in totality, the qualification which has been prescribed under 2012 Rules so as to hold/possess the qualification of HTET/STET in order to become eligible, cannot be treated as arbitrary, illegal or without jurisdiction…” the bench held in its recent order.The petitions challenged the requirement of HTET/STET, particularly in the context of advertisement no. 4 dated June 28, 2015.The petitioners argued that the National Council for Teacher Education’s (NCTE) Nov 12, 2014, notification prescribing qualifications for Classes 11 and 12 teachers did not include HTET/STET. They contended that the state govt’s additional requirement was contrary to the NCTE notification and that Centre-prescribed qualifications would prevail in case of a conflict.On this, the court referred to Supreme Court’s judgment in Preeti Srivastava versus state of Madhya Pradesh (1999) and observed that the qualifications prescribed by the Union constituted minimum requirements and that the state could prescribe higher qualifications to improve teaching standards, provided the minimum qualifications were not diluted.Opposing the petitions, the state through additional advocate general Sanjiv Kaushik submitted that under the Right to Education Act, 2009, HTET/STET was compulsory for Trained Graduate Teachers (TGTs), who formed the feeder cadre for promotion to PGT posts. It argued that the qualification was necessary for the promoted cadre as well.The state counsel further submitted that PGTs also teach students of Classes 7 and 8 and relied on Supreme Court’s judgment in Anjuman Ishaat E Taleem Trust versus state of Maharashtra, contending that Supreme Court had held that the eligibility test was mandatory for teachers teaching students up to Class 8.The court further observed that, under the 2012 Rules, PGT posts were filled through direct recruitment and promotion from the TGT cadre. Since HTET/STET was an essential qualification for appointment as a TGT, prescribing it for the higher post of PGT, including through direct recruitment, could not be considered arbitrary. The requirement also avoided an anomaly between the qualifications applicable to the two cadres.“Keeping in view the facts and circumstances recorded hereinbefore coupled with the settled principle of law, no ground for interference by this court is made out,” the bench held, dismissing the petitions.
