The Supreme Court has provided major relief to students from the 2020–2022 batch of the Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed) course in West Bengal. These candidates were earlier declared ineligible for Assistant Teacher posts in primary schools by the Calcutta High Court, which the apex court has now overturned.
The High Court had ruled that since these students had not received their course completion certificates by the time the recruitment notice was issued on September 29, 2022, they could not apply. However, the Supreme Court found this interpretation incorrect.
"Cut-off date with reference to which eligibility has to be determined is the date appointed by the relevant service rules; where no such cut-off date is provided in the rules, then it will be the date appointed in the advertisement inviting applications; and if there is no such date appointed, then eligibility criteria shall be applied by reference to the last date appointed by which the applications were to be received."
— Supreme Court in Tej Prakash Pathak v. Rajasthan High Court, (2025) 2 SCC 1
Read Also:- Supreme Court Rules 18-Month D.El.Ed. from NIOS Valid for In-Service Teachers as on Aug 10, 2017
Background of the Case
The issue revolved around Rule 6(2) of the West Bengal Primary School Teachers Recruitment Rules, 2016, which follows the qualification guidelines laid down by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) but does not mention any specific cut-off date.
Due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the D.El.Ed. course of 2020–22 could not be completed by the usual deadline of June 30. Students feared they might become overage for jobs and approached the High Court to either get results early or to delay the recruitment process.
A Single Judge of the Calcutta High Court allowed them to participate in recruitment based on the assurance from the Board that results would be declared quickly.
The Board declared results and issued a recruitment notice on September 29, 2022, explicitly allowing candidates from the 2020–22 batch to apply. Later, a more detailed notification was released on October 21, 2022, confirming that these candidates could apply. They received their course certificates on November 29, 2022.
Read Also:- Supreme Court Upholds Calcutta HC Verdict: 25,000 West Bengal SSC Appointments Declared Void
However, candidates who completed their D.El.Ed. before September 29, 2022, challenged this decision. They argued the 2020–22 batch candidates were ineligible as they didn’t have their certificates when the recruitment notice was first published.
The Division Bench of the High Court agreed with the challengers, declared September 29, 2022, as the cut-off date, and reversed the Single Judge’s decision.
Unhappy with the High Court’s ruling, the aggrieved candidates took their plea to the Supreme Court. The top court clarified that since the recruitment rules did not mention a cut-off date, the eligibility should be determined by the date in the actual recruitment notification, which was October 21, 2022.
“The facts of this case reveal a rather extraordinary situation where the Board and also the High Court (Single Judge) sought to resolve the problem that had arisen due to late conduct of the 2020–22 D.El.Ed. examination immediately after the Covid-19 pandemic. We are of the opinion that there is no illegality and arbitrariness in the actual recruitment notification dated 21.10.2022…”
— Justice P.S. Narasimha, Supreme Court
The court further said:
“The recruitment notification dated 21.10.2022 indicated that the appellants would be given an opportunity, and that intendment must inure to their benefit.”
The court cited several previous judgments, including Bhupinderpal Singh, Rakesh Kumar Sharma, and the Constitution Bench judgment in Tej Prakash, to support its conclusion that if neither the rules nor the notification mention a date, then the last date for submitting applications becomes the eligibility date.
Read Also:- Supreme Court To Review Validity Of West Bengal's Entry Tax Law
In a rare move, the Supreme Court invoked Article 142 of the Constitution, which allows it to pass orders necessary to do complete justice in any case.
The Court declared that the recruitment notification of October 21, 2022, was both legal and valid, and ordered the recruitment process to move forward without delay.
"The recruitment process which commenced in the notification dated 21.10.2022 must proceed further and the Board must take immediate steps for concluding the recruitment process as expeditiously as possible."
Case Title: SOUMEN PAUL & ORS. VERSUS SHRABANI NAYEK & ORS. (and connected matters)
Appearance:
For Petitioner(s) :Mr. Rauf Rahim, Sr. Adv.(Arguing counsel) Mr. Dibyendu Chatterjee, Adv. Mr. Ali Asghar Rahim, Adv. Mr. Shekhar Kumar, AOR Mr. Soham Datta, Adv.AR-CUM-PS Mr. P.S. Patwalia, Sr. Adv.(Arguing counsel) Mr. Dibyendu Chatterjee, Adv. Ms. Rashmi Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Aranya Moulick, Adv. Mr. Namya Rishi, Adv. Mr. Nishant Singh, AOR Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv.(Arguing counsel) Mr. Dibyendu Chatterjee, Adv. Ms. Rashmi Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Aranya Moulick, Adv. Mr. Namya Rishi, Adv. Mr. Nishant Singh, AOR
For Respondent(s) :Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Sr. Adv. (Arguing counsel) Mr. Subir Sanyal, Sr. Adv.(Arguing counsel) Mr. Gaurav Jain, Adv. Ms. Abha Jain, AOR Mr. Somesh Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Chhittapriya Ghosh, Adv. Mr. Mandeep Kalra, Adv. Mr. Chitrangada Singh, Adv. Mr. Radhika Jalan, Adv. Mr. Madhav Gupta, Adv. Mr. Vishal Sinha, Adv. Mr. Biswajit Deb, Sr. Adv.(Arguing counsel) Mr. Anando Mukherjee, AOR Mr. Shwetank Singh, Adv. Mr. Jaideep Gupta, Sr. Adv.(Arguing counsel) Mr. Kunal Chatterji, AOR Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Adv. Mr. Rohit Bansal, Adv. Ms. Manisha T Karia, Sr. Adv. Ms. Shalini Chandra, AOR Ms. Shreya Gupta, Adv. 3 Ms. Ananya Arora, Adv. Mr. Deepin Deepak Sahni, Adv. Mr. Devendra Kumar Shukla, AOR Mr. Pranav Sachdeva, AOR Mr. Dibyadyuti Banerjee, Adv.(Arguing counsel) Mrs. Sumedha Halder, Adv. Mr. Abhijit Sengupta, AOR Mr. Paras Chauhan, Adv. Mr. Navneet Kansal, Adv. Mr. Amar Nath Singh, Adv. Mr. Navneet Singh, Adv.