IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Civil Writ Petition No.19033 of 2005 Date of Decision: February 13, 2008 Mam Raj and another .......Petitioners Versus State of Haryana and others .......Respondents CORAM:- HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE RANJIT SINGH --- Present: Ms.Alka Chatrath, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr.Ashok Jindal, Assistant Advocate General, Haryana. --- RANJIT SINGH, J. Petitioners, JBT teachers, have impugned order dated 9.11.2005 (Annexure P11) whereby their claim for consideration for promotion to the post of Language Teacher has been rejected. Petitioner No.1 was appointed as JBT Teacher on 13.8.1983. He joined as such on 29.8.1983. Petitioner No.2 was appointed as JBT Teacher on adhoc basis and later her services were regularised with effect from 1.1.1979. The Government of Haryana has framed Rules known as “Haryana State Education School Cadre (Group C) Service Rules, 1998” (for short “1998 Rules”). These Rules have been made effective from 12.5.1998. As per the Rules, specially Rule 9, the posts of Hindi and Punjabi Teacher were required to be filled up from various sources. 25% Civil Writ Petition No.19033 of 2005 -2- of the posts are to be filled up by promotion from amongst the JBT teachers, whereas 75% posts by way of direct recruitment. The qualifications prescribed in terms of Appendix 'B' of the Rules for the posts of Hindi Teacher are Matriculation, Prabhakar, L.T.C./O.T. or equivalent qualifications. For Punjabi teacher qualification is Matric, Giani, L.T.C./O.T. or equivalent qualifications. The petitioners have disclosed their qualification in the writ petition and it is urged that petitioner No.1 is Matriculate with Hindi and Prabhakar besides diploma in Education. Petitioner No.2 is also having Matric qualification with two years JBT training, apart from Giani and has passed B.A.Part-I examination. The requisite qualification for promotion to the post of Language Teacher in terms of 1998 Rules referred to above is as O.T. Course which the petitioners are not possessing. Their claim for promotion to the said post is rejected as they are not having O.T. course qualification. The case set up by the petitioners in the present writ petition is that JBT qualification is equivalent to O.T. Course as per the instructions dated 12.4.1976 issued by the State Government. The petitioners claim that they are holding the requisite qualifications for consideration for promotion to the post of Language Teacher and the respondents are not justified in rejecting their claim in this regard. In the reply filed by the respondents - State of Haryana, it is urged that qualifications have now been prescribed in the 1998 Rules and since the petitioners are not fulfilling the qualifications as now prescribed in the Rules, they are accordingly not considered eligible for consideration for promotion to the post of Language Teacher. When the case came up for hearing on 23.1.2008, counsel Civil Writ Petition No.19033 of 2005 -3- appearing for the petitioners pointed out that JBT qualification is made equivalent to O.T. as per instructions of the Haryana Government issued on 12.4.1976. Counsel thus urged that the petitioners are eligible for consideration for promotion to the post of Language Teacher. It is further pointed out that the controversy relating to equivalence arose in a number of cases earlier also and had even gone up to the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The SLP filed by the State was dismissed in this regard. Noticing these facts, it was put to the State counsel to ascertain whether the instructions equating JBT course with O.T. are still prevalent or have been withdrawn. The case was accordingly adjourned. Today, State counsel states that he has received instructions that the persons having JBT qualifications are to be treated as eligible for consideration for promotion to the post of Language Teacher. Mr.K.K.Sharma, Assistant working in the Office of D.P.I., Haryana at Chandigarh is present in the Court. He has handed over a copy of the communication in this regard to the State counsel and he has so stated on the basis of this communication. A copy of the communication is marked 'A' kept on record of the writ petition. The petitioners are thus now being treated eligible for consideration to the post of Language Teacher. This is the claim set up by the petitioners in the present writ petition. Earlier, the petitioners were not being considered eligible for such promotion. Once the Government has itself taken a decision to treat the petitioners eligible for promotion to the post of Language Teacher, the relief claimed in the petition is obviously rendered infructuous. The respondents would now consider the claim of the petitioners for promotion to the post of Language Teacher within a Civil Writ Petition No.19033 of 2005 -4- reasonable time in accordance with law. The writ petition is accordingly disposed of. ( RANJIT SINGH ) February 13, 2008 JUDGE SRM