Holding

B.Ed. degree holders were not eligible for the advertised teacher vacancies that required TTC, and a fresh rank list must be prepared excluding B.Ed. candidates.

Summary

The petitioners, holders of Trained Teachers Certificate (TTC), challenged their non‑selection for lower and upper primary teacher posts in Kerala government schools, arguing that the advertisement required TTC and excluded B.Ed. degree holders. The State and the Public Service Commission had allowed B.Ed. candidates to compete and appointed some of them, citing an undertaking to amend recruitment rules. The High Court Single Judge ordered a fresh rank list excluding B.Ed. candidates, but the Division Bench set aside that order, validating the B.Ed. appointments on the basis of future rule amendments. The Supreme Court held that the advertised qualifications were clear and B.Ed. candidates were ineligible for the existing vacancies, and therefore the Division Bench judgment was set aside and the Single Judge’s order restored with a directive to prepare a new rank list excluding B.Ed. candidates. The Court emphasized that equity cannot override settled law and directed that the fresh list be prepared within four months, granting costs to the petitioners.

Issues considered

The advertisement for recruitment required TTC qualification and did not prescribe B.Ed. as an eligibility criterion.
Whether B.Ed. degree holders could be considered eligible for the advertised vacancies.
Whether equity can override the explicit eligibility requirements in the advertisement.
Whether the Division Bench’s validation of B.Ed. appointments, based on a prospective amendment of rules, was lawful.

Legislation cited

Subjects

teacher recruitmentTTC qualificationB.Ed. degreeeligibility criteriapublic service commissionKerala Education Actequity vs lawrank listappointment

Judgment

P.M. LA THA AND ANR. A
V.

ST ATE OF KERA LA AND ORS.

MARCH 5, 2003

[BRIJESH KUMAR AND D.M. DHARMADHIKARI, JJ.] B

Service Law:

Recruitment to the post of lower primary/upper primary teachers by the
Public Service Commission-Non-selection ofsome eligible candidates holding C
Trained Teachers Certificate due to inclusion of candidates having B.Ed.
Degree-Challenge to-Single Judge of High Court allowed the petition
directing Public Service Commission to prepare fresh list excluding B.Ed
candidates-Division Bench, on consideration of an undertaking by the State
as to appointment of TTC holder in Lower Primary Schools, TTC and B.Ed. D
holders in Upper Primary Schools by amending the recruitment rules, upset
the directions in favour of TTC holder-On appeal, Held: Smee prescribed
qualifications for primary teachers is TTC, candidates not holding such
qualification but B.Ed Degree became ineligible and could not be considered
for selection-Kera/a Education Act, 1958-Kera/a Education Rules.
E
Appointment of in-eligible B.Ed degree holders as primary/upper primary
teachers-Continuance on the principle ofequity-Held· Equity and Law should
be applied and interpreted equitably but equity cannot override settled law--
Hence continuance of such candidate on equity not justified

Appellant-candidates holding Trained Teacher Certificate. Though they F
were eligible for appointment as Primary School Teachers they could not be
selected since Public Service Commission had allowed some ineligible
candidates also to compete and had selected them for these posts. Single Judge
of High Court allowed the petitions of appellants directing Service Commission
to prepare a fresh rank list by excluding other ineligible candidates holding G
B.Ed. degree. Division Bench of the High Court upheld the decision of the
Single Judge but on consideration of an undertaking by the State for suitably
amending the recruitment rules providing avenues of recruitment to B.Ed.
Degree holders along with TTC holders for the post of Upper Primary
Teachers, upset the directions made in favour of some eligible candidates.
1;53 H
)

654 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2003] 2 S.C.R.
A Hence the present appeals.
It was contended for the appellants that when the terms of advertisement
were very clear and B.Ed. Degree was not the prescribed qualification, such
candidates were ineligible to compete for selection to the post of IPrimary
School Teachers.
B On behalf of the respondents, it was submitted that B.Ed. is a higher
qualification than TTC; that appointments of such candidates was made on
an undertaking by the State Government to amend the recruitment rules to
include B.Ed. qualification for appointment to some posts of Primary
Teachers; and that such candidates were allowed to compete along with ITC
C holders, therefore, appointment of such candidates was valid.

Allowing the appeals, the Court

HELD: l.l. There is sufficient logic and justification in the State
prescribing qualification for the post of primary teachers as only TTC and
D not B.Ed. Whether B.Ed. qualification can also be prescribed for primary
teachers is a question to be considered by the authorities concerned but B.Ed.
candidates cannot be considered for the present vacancies advertised, as
eligible. (659-A-B)

1.2. Equity and Law are twin brothers and law should be applied and
E interpreted equitably but equity cannot over-ride written or settled law. The
Division Bench forgot that in extending relief on equity to B.Ed. candidates
who were unqualified and yet allowed to compete and seek appointments
contrary to the terms of the advertisement, it is not redressing the injustice
caused to the appellants, TTC candidates, who would have secured a better
position in the Rank List to get appointment against the available vacancies,
F had B.Ed. candidates been excluded from :he selection. The impugned
judgment of the Division Bench is both illegal, inequitable and patently unjust
Appellant-TTC candidates have been wrongly deprived of due chance of
selection and appointment. The impugned judgment of the Division Bench
deserves to be set aside and of the Single Judge restored. (659-E-GJ

G 1.3. The exercise of preparation of a fresh Rank List directed to by the
Single Judge shall be undertaken and after fresh list is prepared by exclusion
of B.Ed. candidates, if the appellants get the necessary rank against available
vacancies at the relevant time, they would be given appointment, and to make
room for them, by terminating appointment, if necessary, ofB.Ed. candidates.
H (~I~
P.M. LATHA v. STATE [D.M. DHARMADHIKARI, J.] 655
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal No. 1726-28 A
of 2001.

From the Judgment and Order dated 18.2.2000 and 25.5.2000 of the
·'
./ Kerala High Court in O.P. No. 4065 of 1999, 4176/99, 3725 of 1999-1.

Mathai M. Paikeday, C.S. Rajan, T.G. Narayanan Nair, Robson Paul, B
K.V. Mohan, P.I. Jose, Ramesh Babu M.R., G. Prakash (NP), K.M.K. Nair,
Vipin Nair, M.P. Vinod, A.K. Jain, Deepak Prakash for the appearing parties.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

DHARMADHIKARI, J. These appeals have been preferred by the C
candidates seeking recruitment to the post of lower primary/upper primary
teachers in the Government Schools of the State of Kerala. They questioned
their non-selection to the post due to inclusion of B.Ed. candidates in the
select list prepared by the Public Service Commission of the State of Kerala.
Their contention before the High Court was that in the advertisement issued D
for recruitment to the post of teachers in Government Primary Schools, B.Ed.
is not th<: prescribed qualification and only candidates with prescribed
educational qualifications of Teachers Training (Certificate) (shortly referred
to as TTC) were entitled to compete for the selection and seek appointment.

Learned Single Judge of the High Court of Kerala by judgment dated E
25.1.1999 allowed the petition of the present appellants holding that B.Ed.
candidates could not have been included in the select or rank list as they were
not eligible under the terms of the advertisement. The learned single judge
issued directions to the State Public Commission to prepare the rank list
afresh by excluding B.Ed. candidates. A further direction was issued that all
orders of appointment issued in favour of B.Ed. degree holders be cancelled. F
_The relevant part of the directions given by the learned single judge deserves
to be reproduced:

"In the above mentioned circumstances, Original Petition succeeds
and it is declared that B.Ed. holders who are not having TTC and
who have been included in the rank list should be deleted from the G
rank list. Accordingly, there will be a direction to the Public Service
Commission to rearrange the rank list in the Pathanamthitta District,
after excluding above-mentioned persons. This exercise should be
done within a period of one month from the date of receipt of a copy
of this judgment. H
656 SUPREME COURT REPORTS
i·
\
(2003] 2 S.C.R.

A There will also be a direction to the PSC to cancel the advice
which has already been made as far as B.Ed. holders are concerned
who are not having TTC and there will be a direction to the
Government to cancel the appointment already made to all those
persons whose advice are to be cancelled by the PSC.

B Original Petition is allowed to the above extent."

By the impugned judgement dated 18.2.2000, the Division Bench of
the High Court in Writ Appeals and Original Writ Petition before it, preferred
by the B.Ed. candidates (who are private respondents before us), upheld the
decision of the learned single judge that under the terms of the advertisement,
C the B.Ed. candidates were not qualified to compete for the post. Despite this
strangely it upset the directions made in favour of the present appellants as
TIC candidates, because of an undertaking given by the State of Kerala that
they would be suitably amending the Rules. of recruitment for providing
avenues of recruitment to B.Ed. degree holders as teachers in Government
D Primary Schools. The relevant part of the observations with reasoning and
conclusion drawn by the division bench in its order to allow the appeal of the
B.Ed. candidates also needs to be reproduced:

"The learned judge finally held that in view of the principles laid
down in the aforesaid decisions, B.Ed is not a qualification prescribed
E and therefore B.Ed. holders are ineligible to apply. When the matter
is thus considered only in the premise of Ext.P3 notific.ation we cannot
say that the learned judge has committed any error in holding that
PSC is not justified in searching for an equivalent or better
qualification. But we have before us other lively and stimulating
issues for decision which we prefer to discuss presently.
F

G The Government have expressed in the affidavit dated 19.1.2000 that
they would frame rules in accordance with the decision taken on
2.6.1999 in consultation with the PSC for future appointments of
TTC hands only in LP Schools and B.Ed. holders and TTC hands in
UP Schools as expeditiously as possible. This is a solemn undertaking
H which should be implemented with extreme swiftness. We do not
P.M. LATHA v. STATE [D.M. DHARMADHIKARI, J.) 657
want to keep the position uncertain and vague as far as future A
appointments are concerned. It is made clear that we have validated
the appointments already made for apparent reasons referred to above.
We therefore direct the government to frame rules as above
expeditiously, at any rate within a period of three months from today
and to regulate all future selections and appointments accordingly.
B
In view of he discussion herein above we hold that the rank list
published by the PSC for appointment to the post of UPSA/LPSA
(Malayalam) in Pathanamthitta dis.trict is valid. The direction given
by the learned single judge in the impugned judgment to the PSC to
re-arrange the rank list in Pathanamthitta district and to cancel all the C
appointments of B.Ed. holders to the post of UPSA and LPSA is set
aside. All the appointments of B.Ed. holders so far made to the post
of LPSA/UPSA are declared valid. The judgment of the learned single
judge in OP No.19187 of 1999 is accordingly set aside."

Aggrieved by judgment of the division bench, the present appellants D
who are holders of TIC and have not been able to get se.lected for the post
of lower/upper primary teachers have approached this Com1 in these appeals.

In the advertisement which was published in the Notification in the
Gazette dated 22.11.1994, the qualifications for the post of lower/upper primary
teachers were prescribed thus: E
(!) Pass in SSLC conducted by the Commissioner for Government
Examination, Kerala, or any other equivalent qualification.

(2) Pass in TTC conducted by the Commissioner for Government
Examinations, Kerala, or pass in Pre-degree of Kerala University F
with pedagogy as optional subject or pass in basic TTC examination
(Malayalam) conducted by the Government of Madras or pass in
Malayalam Vidhvan examination.

Learned counsel appearing for the appellants contends that when the
terms of advertisement, quoted above, are very clear to indicate that B.Ed. G
degree is not the prescribed qualification, such candidates were clearly
ineligible to compete and they could not have been allowed to take up the
selection test and to be included in the select list. Learned counsel placed
before us two judgments of Kerala High Court in Thulasibhai Amma v. Asst.
Educational officer, [1993] 2 KL T 245 and Mathew v. State of Kera/a, (1992) H
2 KL T 116 and pointed out that those decisions were wrongly referred to and
658 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2003] 2 S.C.R.

A relied by the division bench for allowing the appeal of the B.Ed. candidates
and directing the authorities to suitably amend the Rules. Those judgments
related to recruitment to the post of primary teachers in private primary
schools aided by the Government and to which the provisions of Kerala
Education Act and Rules were applicable. Recruitment to Government Primary
B Schools is regulated by a Government Resolution or Order and 'this legal
position is not in dispute.

Learned counsel appearing for the State of Kerala, the State Public
Service Commission and some of the private respondents have strongly urged
that B.Ed. qualification is a higher qualification than TTC and as in the
C process of recruitment of primary teachers in Government Primary Schools,
candidates with B.Ed. degree were allowed to compete, the division bench .
was right in not upsetting the select list and the appointment of B.Ed.
candidates on undertaking given by the authorities to suitably amend the
recruitment Rules.

D On behalf of the State of Kerala, learned counsel pointed out that
pursuant to the directions of the division bench, Kerala Education Rules
framed under the Kerala Education Act of 1958 have been amended and for
Upper Primary Teachers now along with TTC, B.Ed./BT/LT of recognized
Universities of Kerala have also been prescribed as qualifications with effect
from the date of Notification i.e. 8.6.2000.
E
It is not disputed before us by the parties that Kerala Education Act of
1958 and the Kerala Education Rules framed thereunder regulate recruitment
to the posts of teachers in private schools aided by the Government. It is not
brought to our notice that correspondingly the Government Memorandum or
Order which regulated recruitment to Government Primary Schools has also
.F
been amended to prescribe B.Ed. and equivalent degree qualification as
eligibility qualification for the post.

We find.absolutely no force in the argument advanced by the respondents
that B.Ed. qualification is a higher qualification than TTC and therefore, the
G B.Ed. candidates sho~ld be held to be eligible to compete for the post. On
behalf of appellants, it is pointed out before us that Trained Teachers Certificate
is given to teachers specially trained to teach small children in primary classes
whereas for B.Ed. degree, the training imparted is to teach students of classes
above primary. B.Ed. degree holders, therefore, cannot necessarily be held to
be holding qualification suitable for appointment as teachers in primary
H schools. Whether for a particular post, the source of recruitment should be
P.M. LATHA v. STATE [D.M. DHARMADHIKARJ, J.] 659

from the candidates with TTC qualification or B.Ed. qualification, is a matter A
of recruitment policy. We find sufficient logic and justification in the State
prescribing qualification for post of primary teachers as only TTC and not
B.Ed. Whether B.Ed. qualification can also be prescribed for primary teachers
is a question to be considered by the authorities concerned but we cannot
consider B.Ed. candidates, for the present vacancies advertised, as eligible. B
The division bench in the impugned order upheld the decision of the single
judge that in terms of the advertisement, B.Ed. candidates were not eligible
to take up the selection and to be included in the rank list. We fail to understand
that having thus upheld the decision of the learned single judge what was the
justification for the division bench to refer to statutory recruitment Rules
applicable to teachers in private primary schools, aided by the Government C
and the judgments rendered by the High Court in their cases, for reversing
the judgment of the Single Judge and maintaining the Rank List including
names of the B.Ed. candidates and their appointments on the basis of rules
yet to be framed.

On behalf of respondents, it is submitted that since large number of D
B.Ed. candidates were allowed to compete and actual appointment orders
were also issued in their favour, the division bench has tried to adjust the
equities between the parties.

Equity and law are twin brothers and law should be applied and
interpreted equitably but equity cannot over-ride written or settled law. The E
division bench forgot that in extending relief on equity to B.Ed. candidates
who were unqualified and yet allowed to compete and seek appointments
contrary to the terms of the advertisement, it is not redressing the injustice
caused to the appellants who were TTC candidates and would have secured
a better position in the Rank List to get appointment against the available p
vacancies, had B.Ed. candidates been excluded from the selections. The
impugned judgment of the division bench is both illegal, inequitable and
patently unjust. The TTC candidates before us as appellants have been wrongly
deprived of due chance of selection and appointment. The impugned judgment
of the division bench, therefore, deserves to be set aside and of the learned
single judge restored. G
Learned counsel for the respondent states that two interim orders were
made by this Court during the pendency of Special Leave Petitions and after
grant of leave for these appeals. The relevant orders dated 3.7.2000 and
1.3 .200 I read as under:
H
660 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2003] 2 S.C.R.

A Court Order dated 3.7.2000

"Taken on Board. Issue notice. Any appointment in the meanwhile
made will be subject to the result of any order passed in this SLP."

Court Order dated 1.3.2001 ".
B

Mr. PP Rao, learned Senior Counsel submitted on behalf of the State
c of Kerala that TTC holders alone will be appointed in the vacancies
arising in respect of lower primary schools (LPS). This will continue
for the future posts also until otherwise decided by this Court. He
submitted that so far as upper Primary Schools (UPS) are concerned,
until otherwise decided, TTC holders as well as B.Ed. holders will be
considered and the Public service Commission (PSC) will select the
D persons out of this as one category who are more competent among
them for appointment. We make it clear that all such appointments
made after 3. 7.2000 will be treated as only provisional appointments
and be subject to the final result of the appeals.

This order will apply only to non-private schools."
E
Learned counsel for the private respondents relying on the above.orders
of this Court, submits that since the B.Ed. candidates have been appointed
after amendment of the Rules and on the statement made by the counsel for
the State and the Public Service Commission, this Court should not upset the
appointment of B.Ed. candidates already made.
F •·
We have held that the impugned judgment of the division bench is
liable to be set aside and that of the single judge maintained. Having thus
reached a conclusion in favour of the present appellants who are TTC
candidates, it would be highly unreasonable to deny them relief merely because
G of the interim orders or arrangements made thereby th is Court: Under the
aforesaid two orders, B.Ed. candidates were allowed to be appointed only
provisionally. We take note of the fact that all the B.Ed. appointees are not
before us and even though all B.Ed. candidates who have been arrayed as
respondents to these appeals, have been served with notices of these appeals,
only a few of them are represented through counsel. In these circumstances,
H we v ould restrict the relief to the candidates who were petitioners before the

•.. n
1
P.M. LATHA v. STATE [D.M. DHARMADHIKARI, J.] 661
learned single judge including the present appellants. A
The exercise of preparation of a fresh Rank List directed to liy the
learned single judge shall be undertaken and after fresh list is prepared by
exclusion ofB.Ed. candidates, ifthe appellants get the necessary rank against
available vacancies at the relevant time, they would be given appointment
and to make room for them, by terminating appointment, if necessary, of B
B.Ed. candidates who might have been selected in their places.

Consequently, we allow these appeals. The impugned judgment dated
18.2.2000 of the Division Bench is set aside and order of the learned single
judge dated 25.1.1999 is restored with the modification made above. Since
the petitioners in the High Court and in this Court have been waiting for C
selection and appointment, so long, let the directions made by the learned
single judge as modified by this Court be carried out with expedition and
within an outer limit of four months. The appellants will also be entitled to
get costs from the respondents State of Kerala with Counsel's fee as per
·rules.
D
S.K.S. Appeals allowed.