C.W.P No. 3266 of 2007 ::1:: IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH C.W.P No. 3266 of 2007 Date of decision : March 18, 2009 Kela Devi ...... Petitioner (s) v. State of Haryana and others, ...... Respondent(s) *** CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE AJAY TEWARI *** Present : Mr. Anand Bhardwaj, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Harish Rathee, Sr. DAG Haryana for the respondents. *** 1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers may be allowed to see the judgment ? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not ? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest ? *** AJAY TEWARI, J This writ petition has been filed claiming promotion to the post of Hindi Teacher on the ground that even though the petitioner was appointed as JBT Teacher, she possesses the following qualifications :- “A) Matric with Hindi B) B.A with Hindi as an elective subject from Dr. BR Ambedkar University, Agra. C) B.Ed with Hindi as Teaching subject from M.D.U University Rohtak. C.W.P No. 3266 of 2007 ::2:: D) M.A in Hindi.” The petitioner's claim for promotion has been rejected on the ground that she does not have the qualification of Prabhakar/B.A with Hons. in Hindi. It is also necessary to mention here that originally the petitioner had filed CWP No.7622 of 2006 which was disposed of on 18.5.2006 with the following directions :- “ Without going into the merits of the case, we deem it just and appropriate to direct the respondents to take cognizance of the legal notice sent by the petitioner and decide the same expeditiously preferably within a period of four months from the date a certified copy of this order is presented to them. If the claim of the petitioner is found to be meritorious and decided in her favour then the benefit accruing to the petitioner shall be disbursed within a further period of three months thereafter. It shall be appreciated if a speaking order is passed. Petition stands disposed of in the above terms.” As per the Haryana State Education School Cadre (Group-C) Service Rules, 1998, which are applicable to the present case, even a person having BA with Hindi as an elective subject and B.T/B.Ed with Hindi as teaching subject and is having three years experience on the post of JBT Teacher, is eligible for promotion. Thus, ex-facie, the petitioner is eligible to be considered for promotion. Apart from this, in the case of Bimla Devi v. State of Haryana and others, 1999(3) SCT 178, a Division Bench of this Court held as follows :- “6. In our opinion, denial of appointment to the C.W.P No. 3266 of 2007 ::3:: petitioner against the vacancy which has remained unfilled due to non-joining of one of the selected candidates has resulted in violation of her fundamental right to equality in the matter of employment granted to her by Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India and we agree with Shri Sangwan that the petitioner, who possesses qualifications higher than those notified in the advertisement, cannot be denied appointment on the ground that she has not passed Prabhakar (Honours in Hindi). In Seema Nagpal's case (supra), reference has been made to the order passed in Civil Writ Petition No.18427 of 1994, Smt. Saroj Bala v. State of Haryana and others. In that case, this Court took cognizance of the fact that candidates possessing the qualification of B.A with Hindi have been treated as eligible for appointment as Hindi Teachers because the government has treated the said qualification to be equivalent to Prabhakar (Honours in Hindi) and a number of candidates possessing the qualification of B.A with Hindi have, in fact, been appointed as Hindi Teachers. The learned Deputy Advocate General has not been able to controvert the fact that the candidates possessing the qualifications of B.A with Hindi and B.Ed with Hindi as teaching subject have been appointed on the posts of Hindi Teachers. Thus, the decision of the respondent No.2 not to appoint the petitioner as Hindi Teacher C.W.P No. 3266 of 2007 ::4:: cannot be sustained.” The above judgment has been followed subsequently by another Division Bench of this Court in CWP No.10926 of 2007, Ashok Kumar and others vs State of Haryana and others, decided on 21.12.2007. Thus, the action of the respondents in considering the petitioner to be ineligible for promotion cannot be sustained. Consequently, this writ petition is allowed, the order Annexure P-10 is set aside and the respondents are directed to consider the petitioner to be eligible and thereafter consider her case for promotion from the date her juniors were promoted within a period of three months from the receipt of a certified copy of this order. The petitioner would also be entitled to all consequential benefits. ( AJAY TEWARI ) March 18, 2009. JUDGE `kk'