CWP No. 10382 of 2008 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH CWP No. 10382 of 2008 Date of Decision: May 05, 2009 Ranjana Kumari ...... Petitioner Versus Director, Secondary Education of Haryana & others ...... Respondents Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Ajay Tewari Present: Mr. Yogesh Kumar, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Harish Rathee, Senior DAG, Haryana. **** 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? Ajay Tewari, J. The petitioner was appointed as a Guest Teacher in Hindi in the Govt. Senior Secondary School, Kangthali on 17.10.2006. On 28.5.2008 by letter Annexure P-6 his services were dispensed with on the ground that he was not possessing essential minimum qualifications required for the post of Hindi Teacher. As per the Haryana State Education School Cadre (Group C) Service Rules, 1998 the following qualifications are required for appointment of a Hindi Teacher:- (i) Matric from Haryana School Education Board or an Equivalent qualification recognised by the Haryana CWP No. 10382 of 2008 2 School Education Board; (ii) Prabhakar/B.A. (Hons. in Hindi) from a recognised university; (iii) L.T.C./O.T. In Hindi conducted by the Haryana Education Department OR B.A. Hons. in Hindi with B.T./B.Ed.with Hindi as teaching subject from a recognised university; NOTE: In case the candidates of above qualifications are not available then B.A. with Hindi as an Elective subject with B.T./B.Ed. with Hindi as teaching subject from a recognised university shall be considered knowledge of Hindi up to Matric standard. (Promotion). The petitioner has got the qualifications of Prabhakar, B.Ed. with Hindi as a teaching subject as well as MA in Hindi. The reason mentioned in the written statement is that the petitioner did not have B.A.( Hons.) in Hindi. In my opinion the argument is completely fallacious. A degree of Prahbakar has been held equivalent to B.A. (Hons.) in Hindi. 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 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 CWP No. 10382 of 2008 3 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 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. It is, therefore, clear that the very basis on which the services of the petitioner have been dispensed with does not exist. Consequently this writ petition is allowed. Respondents are directed to reengage the petitioner as Hindi Teacher forthwith. (AJAY TEWARI) JUDGE May 05, 2009 sunita