Candidates can't seek reconsideration for selection after revised PSTET results, rules HC
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that candidates cannot seek reconsideration for selection based on a revised Punjab State Teacher Eligibility Test (PSTET) result once the selection process has concluded.
Holding that the eligibility of candidates was to be assessed up to the last date of submission of the application form, the court also dismissed 93 petitions challenging the finalised selection process for the posts of Master/Mistress in Punjab.
The question for adjudication before the Bench was whether PSTET result revised in 2017 could be brought into operation to recalculate the candidates’ merit in the selection process that stood concluded. Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi observed a candidate’s eligibility was to be seen up to the last date of submission of the application form.
The court observed the petitioner-candidates had either not passed the PSTET or had secured particular marks on the relevant date, which were duly considered by the selection committee during the recruitment process.
“Once, the petitioners have been evaluated keeping in view their result of Punjab State Teacher Eligibility Test as on the last date of submission of the application form, they cannot claim the revision of the result on subsequent revision of their marks which only came into existence after the completion of the selection process,” Justice Sethi asserted.
The case revolved around petitioners seeking a recalculation of their merit based on a revised PSTET result, which came into existence after the conclusion of the selection process. The court noted that granting such a claim would disrupt the selection and appointment of candidates already finalised and working for over a decade.
Justice Sethi asserted: “The candidates, who have already been selected keeping in view their eligibility on the last date of submission of application form, cannot be made to suffer merely because the PSTET result of the petitioners have been revised after the completion of the selection”.
The court added the terms and conditions of the recruitment advertisement issued in May 2011 made passing the PSTET mandatory by the last date of application. The petitioners, who did not pass the PSTET up to the last date of application form submission, could not claim eligibility on subsequent result revision.
Addressing the broader implications, Justice Sethi asserted: “Once, the selection process is over, the subsequent revision of their result will not give a right to the petitioners either to be treated as eligible or for consideration of their claim afresh on the basis of the revised PSTET result.”
Referring to the argument that the initial declaration of their results was flawed, Justice Sethi added: “In case, the petitioners have any grievance against the department for wrongly declaring their result, they have the liberty to avail the appropriate remedy of seeking compensation against the department but the selection already made which involve the other candidates who are working for the last more than 10 years, cannot be reconsidered in any manner”.
