Prerna Gala
Published on: September 14, 2022 at 20:20 IST
The Tamil Nadu Government Order requiring 50% in the SSLC to qualify for the Teachers’ Training Certificate Course was affirmed by the Supreme Court.
The bench composed of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia noted that the State Government may set the minimum eligibility requirements of the marks for appointment in the course of exercising its executive power.
In this instance, a candidate was disqualified from being hired as a secondary grade teacher because she had earned a one-year Teachers’ Training Certificate from the State of Nagaland with less than a 50% mark.
The Madras High Court ruled that the Government Order violates the statutes and cannot be implemented while granting the candidate’s writ petition. It Instructed the department to assess the candidate’s Teachers’ Training Certificate.
In the appeal, the bench noted that there is no minimum percentage of marks required on the Secondary School Leaving Certificate to be admitted to the Teachers’ Training Certificate Course under the Tamil Nadu Recognized Private Schools (Regulations) Act, 1973, and the Rules thereunder.
The State Government, in the exercise of its Executive Power, can determine the minimum eligibility conditions of the marks for appointment in the State.
“The decision of the State in its executive power cannot be contradictory to the express provision of the statutory Rules, but where the statute and Rules are silent, the State Government, in the exercise of its executive power, is competent to supplement the rules. The executive power of the State is to supplement and not supplant.”, the court said.
The court concluded that the High Court’s conclusion that the Government Order violates the statutes is not supported by the law.