2nd test for 2,364 ETT cadre posts challenged

Chandigarh, September 16

The “second” competitive test for recruitment to 2,364 ETT cadre posts in the Education Department has come under judicial lens with the filing of a petition. Taking up the matter, Justice Jitendra Chauhan of the High Court not only admitted the writ petition, but also directed that the appointments, if made, would be subject to the outcome of the petition.

The matter was brought to the High Court’s notice after Nirmal Singh and other ETT pass candidates challenged the “second competitive test” while seeking the quashing of a clause in the advertisement dated March 6, issued by the Punjab Education Recruitment Board.

Counsel Kapil Kakkar and Hema Kakkar contended that the petitioners passed the Punjab State Teacher Eligibility Test after completing the two-year ETT course as required under the statutory rules governing the appointment of ETT teachers in the state. They were fully eligible for the posts advertised by the Education Department.

But the recruitment board, vide a clause in the advertisement, prescribed the conducting of another written test and laid down that the merit would be determined only on its basis. Describing it as totally illegal and arbitrary, it was contended that prescribing another written test was against the statutory rules laying down the qualification and was totally unjust and unfair. — TNS