Eligibility Must Be Assessed on the date of Teacher Appointment, Not on the Certificate.
Judgment dated 7.10.2026 of the Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 13079 of 2026 of The State of Bihar and others Vs. Nandeshwar Kumar
On 2.1.1995, the respondent was issued the Senior Teacher Training Certificate by the College of Education, Calcutta.
On 1.7.1995, the NCTE Act (National Council for the Teacher Education) came into effect.
On 11.9.2007, the respondent was appointed as Trained Block Teacher under the Bihar Panchayat Elementary Teacher (Employment and Service Conditions) Rules, 2006.
On 2.12.2015, the respondent was terminated on the ground that the certificate of 1995 was from the unrecognized institution.
From the aforesaid statutory 2006 Rules, the respondent at the time of his appointment (i.e. 11.09.2007) was though holding a certificate but the same was not recognized by the National Council for Teacher Education (N.C.T.E.). It is not disputed that the 2006 Rules were invoked when the respondent was appointed. It is also not disputed by the respondent that the certificate issued by Dr. B. C. Roy College of Education, Calcutta (Annexure P 1, at page No.31 of the SLP) was not recognized by N.C.T.E., for the obvious reason that the N.C.T.E. Act, 1995 had not come into being on the date of issuance of the said certificate which was issued as early as in January 1995. 3.5 The N.C.T.E. Act came into force from 01.07.1995 which impelled the State of Bihar to frame the 2006 Rules stipulating that diploma/certificate ought to have been issued by a training institute recognized by N.C.T.E.
Thus, on the date of appointment as Trained Block Teacher i.e., 11.09.2007, respondent was not eligible as Page 9 of 11 per 2006 Rules, for not having obtained certificate from an institute recognized by N.C.T.E.
A bare perusal of the impugned order of Division Bench reveals that the Division Bench fell into error by holding that N.C.T.E. Act had no application to the case of respondent since the N.C.T.E. norms would only be applicable prospectively w.e.f. 01.07.1995 and not prior thereto. 4.1 This view taken in the impugned order is misplaced, inasmuch as, the eligibility of a candidate for appointment to any public office is seen on the last date of submission of application forms or at best latest by the date of appointment, which clearly stipulated that the same is being offered to respondent in terms of Bihar Panchayat Elementary Teacher (Employment and Service Conditions) Rules, 2006. It goes without saying that as mentioned above, the eligibility of becoming a Trained Block Teacher was diploma/certificate from an institute recognized by N.C.T.E., which the respondent at the relevant point of time did not possess.
