IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civl Writ Petition No.16877 of 2008 Date of Decision : August 08, 2011. Baldev Singh .....Petitioner versus State of Punjab and another .....Respondents CORAM : HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT. Present : Mr.H.S.Rakhra, Advocate, for the petitioner. Ms.Sudeepti Sharma, DAG, Punjab. Mr.Amarinder Preet, Advocate, for Mr.Nakul Sharma, Advocate, for respondent No.2. -.- 1. Whether Reporters of Local papers 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? --- Surya Kant, J. (Oral) The petitioner is an ex-serviceman. He applied for the post of ETT Teacher for which the recruitment was to be made by the Zila Parishad, Ferozepur. The petitioner has undertaken the Unit Education Instructor Course (for short 'the UEI' course) and passed the same with 'A' Grade (Annexure P-3) while he was in Army. The above stated UEI course has been declared equivalent to the ETT/J.B.T by the authorities of the Punjab Government as is evident from the Circulars dated 17.7.2007 (Annexure P-4); 5.12.2007 (Annexure P-8) and 24.10.2007 (Annexure P-9) issued by CWP No.16877 of 2008 [2] the Directorate, Rural Development and Panchayats, which reads as follows:- “.....District Sainik Welfare Officer, Ferozepur vide its letters dated 20.7.2007 and 22.10.2007, the U.E.I. Course has been considered at par with E.T.T. Course, so, Sh.Sukhchain Singh son of Balwant Singh may kindly be considered with regard to the post of E.T.T. and may be given the required place in merit......” The petitioner applied for the post of E.T.T. Teacher in the ex- serviceman category but his candidature has been turned down on the plea that as per the Government Instructions dated 23.6.2007 (Annexure R-1), the candidates submitting their applications with the certificates of “Grading” in place of “Marks” will not be considered eligible and since the petitioner appended the UEI course certificate which does not have the “marks” and has “grading” only, that his candidature has been turned down. Having heard learned counsel for the parties and after going through the Government Instructions dated 23.6.2007 (Annexure R-1), I am of the considered view that the objection raised by the respondents is wholly unfair, unjust and arbitrary. It is true that the inter se merit can be accurately prepared only on the basis of marks obtained by a candidate. It is for this reason that the circular lays emphasis on the 'marks' instead of 'grading'. However, the petitioner undertook the UEI Course while in Army. The certificate dated 30.4.1986 (Annexure P-3) produced by him certifies his grading as “A” which means “above average” and between 70 to 79% marks. In such like cases where the ex-serviceman deserves to be CWP No.16877 of 2008 [3] considered against the posts reserved for them, the authorities could evolve a fair mechanism like taking the minimum of the 'grading' for the purpose of his placement in inter se merit. Say for example, the petitioner's grading is “A” which means 70-79% marks and by applying the principle of deeming fiction, the authorities could have treated his marks as 70% only for the purpose of preparing the merit list. Suffice it to observe that the petitioner at this juncture cannot be expected to get the Certificate re- valuated under the marks system nor can he undergo another course to obtain such a certificate. For the reasons afore-stated, the writ petition is allowed to the extent that the action of the respondents in treating the petitioner ineligible for want of `marks' in the UEI Course Certificate, is set-aside and a direction is issued to the respondents to consider his candidature for the post of ETT Teacher on the assumption that he has got 70% marks in UEI Course. In case the petitioner makes it to the merit, he shall be given appointment by the Zila Parishad, Ferozepur, within a period of one month from the date of receiving a certified copy of this order. Ordered accordingly. Dasti. August 08, 2011 (SURYA KANT) Mohinder JUDGE