REET | If One Agency Of State Govt Declares Candidate Eligible, Another Govt Agency Can't Declare Him Ineligible: Rajasthan High Court

Rajasthan High Court has ruled that once an agency of the State Government i.e. the Board of Education had certified a candidate to have passed REET Level-I examination, it was not open for another agency i.e. the Education Department to reject the candidature opining that he did not pass the exam.

The bench of Justice Farjand Ali was hearing a petition filed by a candidate of the recruitment of Assistant Teacher Level-I conducted by the State Education Department, whose candidature was rejected on the ground that his score of 82/150 did not fulfil the minimum prescribed criteria of REET which was 55%.

One of the eligibility criteria to pass REET Level-1 exam was to obtain minimum prescribed marks. For Petitioner, who belonged to a reserved category, the minimum prescribed marks were 55% and the Petitioner scored 82/150 marks that was 54.66%. Hence, his candidature was rejected.

However, subsequently, National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE) came out with guidelines as per which it was decided that since 55% of 150 i.e. 82.5 marks, which was impossible to score in light of no negative marking in REET, a candidate getting the round-off marks of 82/150 would be considered to have passed Level-I of REET even though it only 54.67% and not 55%.

Based on this, the Petitioner was granted an eligibility certificate for Level-I of REET by the nodal agency of Government of Rajasthan i.e. the Board of Secondary Education Rajasthan (“Nodal Agency”). In light of this, the Petitioner was considered eligible by the respondents and he continued to participate in the recruitment.

Eventually, even after qualifying all the other criteria, his candidature was rejected and he was informed that since he only got 54.66% in REET when the minimum prescribed marks were 55%, he was not given the appointment. It was against this, the writ petition was filed by the Petitioner.

It was argued on behalf of the Petitioner that on one hand, the Nodal Agency appointed by the State Government had issued eligibility certificate to the Petitioner but on the other hand the Education Department was not accepting the same.

After perusing the records and hearing the contention, the Court agreed with the arguments put forth on behalf of the Petitioner and held that,

“Once one agency of the State Government has declared the petitioner eligible for Level-I in REET Examination, it is not open for the another agency of the Government to come out and say that he is ineligible on account of not attaining exactly 55% marks in REET.”

Furthermore, the Court observed that REET was merely a qualifying test and if a candidate was fulfilling the eligibility criteria prescribed by the State, there was no reason for the Government to deny consideration of his candidature on the ground that he did not attain the minimum required marks in REET especially when a certificate was issued to the candidate declaring him eligible for Level-I.

The Court further referred to a coordinate bench decision of the Rajasthan High Court, Rajesh Kumar Yadav & Ors. v State of Rajasthan, which was relied upon by counsel for the Petitioner wherein the petitioners who had secured 82/150 marks in REET were declared to have passed the exam and hence were directed to be considered for appointment on merits for the post of Teacher.

In the background of this analysis, the Court allowed the petition and directed the respondents to treat the Petitioner to have qualified REET Level-I and to consider his candidature on merits.

Title: Vikram Singh v the State of Rajasthan & Ors.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Raj) 360

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