Challenge to recruitment of Physical Education Teachers in Puducherry on grounds of improper application of reservation and invalid B.P.Ed degrees. The court found no established irregularity in reservation and held the degrees validly recognised retrospectively, dismissing the writ petitions and confirming the Tribunal's order.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
WP.Nos.31806 & 31807 of 2019
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED : 05.11.2024
CORAM
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE S.M.SUBRAMANIAM
AND
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE M.JOTHIRAMAN
WP.Nos.31806 & 31807 of 2019 and WMP.No.32046 of 2019
S.Aruna .. Petitioner in both cases
v.
1.The Union of India Represented by the Secretary to Government Education Department Government of Union Territory of Puducherry Puducherry.
2.The Director of School Education Government of Union Territory of Puducherry Puducherry.
3.Thennagathamizhan, K
4.Maheswary, P
5.Tharanidaran, V
6.Velavan, R
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7.Sudandiram, S
8.Shalini, P
9.Vinothini, M 10.Madhavan, A 11.Ranjitha, K 12.Bharathiraja, M 13.Santhiya, P 14.Ilavarasi, B
15.Murugan, M
16.Pushparaj, N 17.Kowsalya, S
18.Nandini, P
19.Vasantharaj, J 20.Prabagaran, P 21.Sivamathi, G 22.Parameswari, S
23.John Joseph
24.Sandirassegarane, K
25.Sendhil, R
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26.Devendiran, R
27.Ilavarasan, I
28.Jayabharathi, P
29.Sadheesh, A
30.Sharan Mohan, S
31.Vineetha, MM R3 to R31 selectees having address at C/o.Director of School Education, Puducherry.
… respondents in WP.No.31806 of 2019
1.The Union of India Represented by the Secretary to Government Education Department Government of Union Territory of Puducherry Puducherry.
2.The Director of School Education Government of Union Territory of Puducherry Puducherry.
5.Vaddi Varaprasad, R
6.Bharathi, S
7.Sujith Jayan Alex, J
8.Vinoth, Y
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9.Thennagathamizhan, K
10.Vinothini, M
11.Maheswary, P
12.Ashok Kumar, J
13.Murugalayan, K
14.Kamalacannane, A
15.Vidya, JC
16.Murugan, D
17.Pregash, D
18.Murugaraj, M
19.Arul Prasad, J
20.Sithanandam @ Muthukumaran, D
21.Senthil, R
22.Sudandiram, S
23.Tharanidaran, V
24.Elamvazhudhi, S R3 to R24 selectees having address at C/o.Director of School Education, Puducherry.
… respondents in WP.No.31807 of 2019
Prayer : Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of
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India seeking to issue writ of certiorarified Mandamus calling for the records on the file of the Central Administrative Tribunal relating to the impugned order dated 18.10.2019 passed in OA.No.1744 of 2015 & OA.No.38 of 2016 respectively and quash the same and consequently direct the respondents 1 & 2 to redo the selection for the post of Physical Education Teacher and select the petitioner and appoint her in accordance with law.
For Petitioner : Mr.T.Sai Krishnan (in both cases) for Mr.Kamala Kumar
For Respondents : Mr.R.Syed Mustafa, Spl.GP (Pondy) (in both cases) for R1 & R2 No appearance for R3 to R31.
COMMON ORDER
(Made by the Hon'ble Mr.Justice S.M.SUBRAMANIAM)
Under assail is the Order dated 18.10.2019 passed in OA.No.1744
of 2015 and OA.No.38 of 2016.
OA.No.38 of 2016 before the Central Administrative Tribunal, seeking the relief to set aside the recruitment notification dated 31.12.2014 and to
direct the respondents to redo the selection process for recruitment to the
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post of Physical Education Teacher and select and appoint the petitioner.
Applications filed by the petitioner, which resulted in institution of the present writ proceedings.
to the post of Physical Education Teacher was issued by the respondents vide notification dated 31.12.2014, which reveals that recruitment was conducted to fill up 30 posts of Physical Education Teacher in the pay band of Rs.9,300 - 34,800/- + Grade Pay of Rs.4,600/- in the Directorate of School Education, Puducherry. The notification contained number of vacancies, reservation details, eligibility conditions, mode of recruitment etc. The eligibility conditions as per the notification was that the candidates must be between 18 and 30 years as on 03.02.2015, which was the last date for receipt of application. The educational and other qualifications prescribed are as under :-
“(b) Educational and other qualifications:-
i)Bachelor's degree in any discipline from any
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recognised University.
ii)Bachelor of Physical Education (B.P.Ed)
from any recognised University and
iii)Should have studied particular regional
language (Tamil / Malayalam) as one of the subjects
in the Secondary level.)”
31.12.2014 for recruitment to the post of Physical Education Teacher and
the number of vacancies notified was 22.
filed Original Applications before the Central Administrative Tribunal mainly on two grounds. Firstly, the rule of reservation has been improperly adopted resulted in erroneous application of reservation. Secondly, the B.P.Ed decree obtained by certain candidates, participated
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in the process of selection are invalid, since, it was not approved by the National Council for Teachers Education.
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conditions stipulated in the selection process the petitioner cannot turn around and claim that they are eligible to be appointed under the reserved category. The rule of reservation was followed in accordance with the OM as applicable and there is no irregularity.
the categories viz., General category, OBC category and SC category.
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Based on the age relaxation granted to the reserved category and taking into account the merit ranking of the respective candidates selected list was published. We could not able to identify any discrepancy nor the petitioner could able to establish any irregularity in the matter of application of rules of reservation. In the absence of any specific ground
to establish improper application of reservation, Courts would not be in a position to consider the relief so as to interfere with the process of selection already concluded in the year 2015 itself.
respondents in their counter has elaborated the procedures adopted for selection, which reads as under :-
“14. I respectfully submit that the petitioner herein
had also applied for the post against 22/30 vacancies and her net percentage of mark is 56.548%. The cut off marks under UR/OBC category is 67.950 / 67.353 (22 Post), 65.013 / 62.739 (30 posts). As the petitioner got less mark than the
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cut off percentage mentioned above she was not selected. The petitioner states that she had secured 70.65% which is not correct. The petitioner has conveniently failed to state that she had taken three attempts to pass her Degree examination. As per GO.Ms.No.60 dated 08.06.2012 5% of the marks has to be deducted for each attempt. Accordingly, 239.4 marks were deducted for three attempts. Her actual net percentage marks calculated as per GO.MS.No.60 dated 08.06.2012 is as follows :-
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h Total (f + g) (44.548 + 12)% = 56.548%
selection was tainted or the rule of reservation was not implemented. In the absence of any evidence to establish illegality and irregularity in the
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process of selection, the Court would not interfere with the process of selection or appointment.
writ petitions are dismissed. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petition is closed. No costs.
(S.M.S., J) (M.J.R., J) 05.11.2024
Index : Yes/No
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Internet : Yes/No Speaking Order/Non-Speaking Order Neutral Citation : Yes/No
tsh
To The Registrar Central Administrative Tribunal High Court Campus, Chennai – 600 104.
S.M. SUBRAMANIAN, J. and M. JOTHIRAMAN, J.
tsh
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2 issues framed by the court
Whether the reservation policy was improperly applied in the 2015 Physical Education Teacher selection in Puducherry.
Whether B.P.Ed degrees not initially approved by NCTE invalidated the selection of certain candidates.
1 provisions across 1 enactments
S.Aruna
The Union of India (Secretary to Government, Education Department, UT of Puducherry)
The Director of School Education, Puducherry
S.M.Subramaniam
M.Jothiraman
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
