HC allows Punjab to fill 6,635 ETT posts

Court had stayed the appointment in Oct 2021 on pleas from BED qualified teachers

CHANDIGARH: The high court has allowed the Punjab government to make appointments on 6,635 ETT (elementary teacher training) posts, almost 10 months after the then Congress government had initiated the process in the run up to the assembly polls.

The high court bench of justice GS Sandhawalia and justice Vikas Suri vacated the stay imposed on October 29, 2021. The advertisement was issued on July 30 for 6,635 posts and the exam was conducted in October.

However, the high court had stayed the appointment process acting on the pleas from those who were qualified BED teachers and had argued that in the past they have been considered for these posts including in an exam in 2020. The court had restrained the government from making appointments observing that third party rights would come into play if the appointment letters were issued.

The candidates, who had appeared in the exam and had qualified the written tests, had resorted to protests across the state ahead of assembly elections, pressing for their appointments. During the hearing on May 16, the court was informed that recently the Rajasthan high court has passed an order, wherein the 2018 National Council for Teacher Education notification based on which the BED

Pcandidates were claiming their eligibility had been quashed. The matter is now pending before the apex court and it has ordered that appointments be made subject to the final disposal of the case. Taking note of the case pending before the apex court, the Punjab and Haryana high court observed that the stay order was only passed to protect the rights of the petitioners, who were claiming to be eligible as per the 2018 notification. Once the notification itself does not subsist, keeping in view the order of the Rajasthan HC, the stay order is liable to be vacated, it ordered. It further observed that due to delay in appointment process, the interests of the candidates who are duly qualified, prima facie as per the terms of the advertisement, are being adversely affected since the recruitment process has now come to a standstill for over six months. “The interest of the petitioners can be protected to the extent that stipulation can be mentioned in the appointment letters that their appointments shall be subject to the final decision of the writ petitions,” the bench recorded.

Due to delay in appointments, the interests of qualified candidates are being affected. HIGH COURT