High Court tells Haryana not to hold ‘subject knowledge test’

Chandigarh, September 28

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today restrained the state of Haryana from holding “subject knowledge test” for appointments to the post of Post-Graduate Teacher (computer science). The order will remain in force at least till October 16, the next date of hearing in the case.

The direction by the Bench of Justice Deepak Sibal and Justice Sukhvinder Kaur came on a petition filed by Rajesh Kumar and other petitioners against the state and other respondents challenging the academic qualifications prescribed in the Haryana State Education School Cadre (Group-B) Service Rules, 2012, specifically for the appointment of a Post-Graduate Teacher (computer science).

The petitioners argued that the qualifications outlined in the rules were inconsistent with the minimum qualifications set by the National Council for Teacher Education, New Delhi (NCTE). According to the NCTE, a Post-Graduate Teacher (computer science) should have a postgraduate degree with at least 50 per cent marks in the relevant subject and a bachelor of education from a recognised institution. However, the rules, and consequently the advertisement in question, specify different qualifications, including MSc (computer science), BE/BTech in computer science/IT, with 55 per cent aggregate marks from a recognised university.