SOUMEN PAUL AND OTHERS
Vs.
SHRABANI NAYEK AND OTHERS
( Before : Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Manoj Misra, JJ. )
Civil Appeal No….of 2025 (Arising out of SLP (C) No. 12660 of 2023 with Civil Appeal No….of 2025 Arising Out of SLP (C) No….of 2025 Arising Out of Diary No. 25090 of 2023 with Civil Appeal No…..of 2025 Arising Out of SLP (C) No. 25324 of 2023
Decided on : 04-04-2025
Rule 6(2) WB Primary Teacher Rules incorporates prevailing NCTE norms, not fixing a qualification acquisition cut-off date.
Service Law — Recruitment — Eligibility Qualification — Interpretation of Rules — West Bengal School Teachers Recruitment Rules, 2016, Rule 6(2) — Rule 6(2) of the West Bengal Primary School Teachers Recruitment Rules, 2016 (as amended on 22.12.2020), which requires candidates to possess the minimum educational and training qualification prescribed by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) "prevailing as on date of publication of recruitment notification," primarily functions to incorporate the NCTE qualifications applicable at the time of recruitment — It does not, by its text or intendment, establish a rigid cut-off date by which such qualification must be possessed by the candidate — An interpretation treating the phrase "prevailing as on date" as fixing a cut-off for obtaining the qualification is erroneous, particularly when the recruiting body itself did not espouse such an interpretation.
