Is a reserved category candidate who does not fulfil the essential eligibility criteria prescribed for a selection entitled to migrate to the open category?
Coram: Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha; Alok Aradhe
No. If a candidate belonging to a reserved category does not fulfil the essential eligibility criteria prescribed for a selection, he or she cannot be permitted to migrate to an open category. That was the position in Pradeep Kumar, where the respondents neither had the OBC certificates issued by NCT of Delhi nor had passed the CTET with 60% marks.
Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 — s.23 — NCTE Guidelines dated 11.02.2011 — Clause 9 — Teacher Eligibility Test — Relaxation in qualifying marks — Migration to open category — Reservation — NCTE Guidelines dated 11.02.2011 — Clause 9 — Relaxation in qualifying examination — level playing field, merit unaffected — Held: A relaxation in the qualifying examination merely enables entry into the zone of consideration and creates a level playing field. It is not a relaxation in the standard where inter se merit is determined solely on performance in the main examination. (¶19, 28) Recruitment Rules — Employment notification — Migration of reserved category candidate to open category — Held further: Migration of a reserved category candidate who availed a concession in the qualifying examination depends on the Recruitment Rules or employment notification. It is permissible where these permit it, or are silent and do not expressly prohibit it. (¶19) Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 — s.23 — Essential eligibility criteria — non-fulfilment bars migration — Held further: A reserved category candidate who does not fulfil the essential eligibility criteria prescribed for a selection cannot migrate to an open category. Where the NCTE guidelines themselves permit relaxation, 60% marks in TET is not an essential eligibility condition. (¶19, 31) Teachers Aptitude and Intelligence Test, 2022 — Merit list — exclusion of more meritorious reserved candidate impermissible — Held further: Appellants more meritorious than the last selected candidate under the general category cannot be excluded from consideration under that category in the absence of any express prohibition in the Recruitment Rules or notification. Impugned judgment quashed and set aside; appeals allowed. (¶32, 33)
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