Now Reading: HC quashes Haryana notification limiting TET certificate validity
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HC quashes Haryana notification limiting TET certificate validity
The Punjab and Haryana high court has struck down a Haryana government notification issued on August 6, 2024, that limited the lifetime validity of State Teachers Eligibility Test (STET) certificates to future recruitments only. The bench of justice HS Brar ruled that the notification violated Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution by discriminating among HTET certificate holders from the same class.
The court noted that the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) had issued a notification on June 9, 2021, mandating retrospective lifetime validity of TET certificates from 2011. The Haryana government's 2024 notification, which made certificates valid only for selection processes after August 2024, was found to be in direct conflict with the NCTE directive.
The court rejected the state's argument that the Centre had given it discretion on implementation, stating that discretion was limited to altering the length of validity, not creating artificial classifications. Petitioners, including HTET and STET certificate holders, had challenged the notification which had invalidated their certificates for recruitments advertised before August 2024.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The ruling sets a binding precedent for states that have issued similar limiting notifications after the 2021 NCTE mandate. Over 1 lakh HTET certificate holders in Haryana alone will now be eligible for all pending and future recruitments. The court's reasoning, that a state cannot create a subclass within a class the Centre has already defined, may also apply to other state-level eligibility tests in education and public employment. The next step is for Haryana to issue a revised notification that fully complies with the 2021 NCTE directive, likely within weeks.
Source: hindustantimes.com
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