JASBIR SINGH,J. - (1.) THIS order shall dispose of four appeals bearing Letters Patent Appeal No. 1397, 1588, 1536 and 2049 of 2013. To dictate order, facts are being taken from LPA No. 1397 of 2013.
(2.) THE appellants were candidates for the post of Primary Teachers against advertisement No. 2 of 2012 notified on 08.11.2012. For the said post following essential qualifications were laid down, which reads thus: "(i) Senior Secondary (or its equivalent with at least 50% marks and 2 years Diploma in Elementary Education; Or Senior Secondary (or its equivalent) with at least 45% marks and 2 years Diploma in Elementary Education in accordance with the NCTE (Recognition Norms and Procedure), Regulation 2002; Or Senior Secondary (or its equivalent) with at least 50% marks and 4 years Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.EI.Ed.); OR Senior Secondary (or its equivalent with at least 50% marks and 2 year Diploma in Education (Special Education); OR B.A./B.Sc./ B.Com. and 2 years Diploma in Elementary Education (by whatever name known). (For recognition of Diploma/Degree see note -2}. (ii) Certificate of having qualified Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test (HTET)/School Teachers Eligibility Test (STET) or Haryana for Primary Teacher. OR Four years teaching experience as Primary Teachers as One time exemption of HTET/STET (See Note -3). (iii) Matric with Hindi/Sanskrit or 10+2/B.A./M.A. With Hindi as one of the subject." It is the case of the appellants that they are qualified for the post as they possess basic educational qualification. It is further stated that to claim exemption from passing out Haryana Teacher Eligibility Test (HTET), they are relying upon the provisions made in Clause II referred above i.e. they had four years' experience as Primary Teachers till the closing date for submission of application forms i.e. 08.12.2012. In the above said advertisement besides laying down essential qualification as referred above, following further conditions are laid down in Notes 3 and 4, which read thus: "Note 3. A one time exemption of HTET/STET for teachers who till 11.04.2012 have worked for minimum 4 years in privately managed Govt. Aided Schools, Recognized Schools and Govt. Schools. Number of years is cumulative candidate must be in service as PRT on 11.04.2012 and in position on the date of applying. The teaching experience must be as Primary Teacher after acquiring essential qualification and supported by salary slip. They will have to qualify HTET not later than 1st April, 2015 otherwise their services will be terminated automatically. Note 4. Four years teaching experience certificate for one time exemption for HTET/STET and one time upper age relaxation certificate issued by Head of the Institute must be verified by DEEO and counter signed by Director of Elementary Education of the concerned State even for CBSE/Central Schools and Navodaya Vidhalaya. One time exemption implies that an applicant can apply only once for particular category of post in the first advertisement. No such exemption will be granted in the subsequent advertisement."
(3.) IT is stated that to claim exemption from passing out HTET/STET, a candidate must have teaching experience of four years upto 11.04.2012. It was grievance of the appellants that the said criteria has wrongly been fixed as they had not acquired four years' teaching experience on the above said date. However, they had fulfilled the qualification upto the closing date of submission of application forms as per advertisement dated 08.12.2012.;