E-Paper
See year of passing, not degree date, for recruitment, rules high court
A girl cleared B.Ed. examination in May 2017 but got her degree issued in October 2022 as she couldn’t pay fee earlier. The issuance date was nine months after the Punjab government issued a recruitment advertisement. She had cleared the recruitment test but wasn’t appointed as the cut-off date was January 2022, triggering the petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court.
The Punjab and Haryana high court has directed all the recruitment agencies in the two states and Chandigarh to consider year of passing of an exam or degree for the recruitment purposes and not the issuance of the same.
“In the competitive examinations, the candidates work hard and make their best efforts to secure good marks, therefore, only because of the date of issuance of degree/certificate, they should not be denied appointment as these are only procedural delays/lapses,” the bench of justice Sureshwar Thakur and justice Sudeepti Sharma observed making it clear that in such kind of cases where the date or year of passing of the examination is mentioned, the date of issuance of certificate or degree should be totally ignored.
“The best example is the case in hand wherein the appellant-petitioner (from Mansa) passed the B.Ed. examination successfully in May 2017 whereas due to financial condition, she could not deposit the requisite fee in time and her certificate/degree of B.Ed., was delayed and the date (October 2022) mentioned therein is after the cut-off date as mentioned in the advertisement for submission of application forms,” it recorded.
In the recruitment for science master cadre in Punjab, she had secured 98 marks out of 150. Those who secured 85 marks and above were called for scrutiny of documents. She was not called as her degree was issued in October 2022, whereas the recruitment process was initiated in January that year. She was not called maintaining that the certificate of B.Ed degree was issued after the cut-off date.
Poor should not be overlooked: HC
The court observed that these are all procedural lapses/delays for which the students/candidates/aspirants for job should not suffer. The recruitment agencies should take into consideration the date and year of passing of the examination and not the date of issuance of the certificate, it said adding that if in any exceptional cases there is some doubt regarding authenticity of the marks sheet/date of declaration of results, the candidate should be issued appointment letter subject to the condition of their being retained in the job as per the verification of the educational qualification certificates with respect to the date and authenticity of the document. “It would reduce the unnecessary litigation and would encourage all the meritorious candidates,” the bench remarked.
The court observed that poverty is a hard reality of life, and poor parents often sacrifice their own needs, even cutting back on meals, to provide the best education for their children. “Despite the family’s financial struggles, meritorious candidates like the appellant-petitioner should not be overlooked, as doing so would discourage such candidates. It is not the case of the respondents that the appellant-petitioner was ineligible before the cut-off date, nor did she fail to produce the provisional result,” it said asking the Punjab government to give her appointment.
