Telangana High Court
Sanjay vs The State Of Telangana on 31 March, 2026
IN THE HIGH COURT FOR THE STATE OF
TELANGANA AT HYDERABAD
THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE K.SARATH
WRIT PETITIONNo.13135 of 2024
DATE: 31.03.2026
Between:
Sanjay
...Petitioner
AND
1. State of Telangana, rep. by its Principal Secretary,
School Education, and two others
...Respondents
ORDER:
The present Writ Petition is filed questioning Memo No.708/TRT/Rectt.I/4/2017 dated 06.09.2021 issued by Respondent No.2, whereby the candidature of the petitioner for further selection to the post of Secondary Grade Teacher (SGT) in Hindi Medium was rejected on the ground that the petitioner had not secured 40% marks to consider under OC Category which is illegal, arbitrary and in violation of the orders passed by this Court in WP No.45743 of 2019 dated 12.07.2021 and 2 SK, J W.P.No.13135 of 2024 sought to set aside the impugned Memo and consequently direct the respondents to appoint him as Secondary Grade Teacher.
2. Heard Sri G. Ravinder, learned counsel for the petitioner and Sri P.S.Raja Shekar, learned Standing Counsel appearing for Respondent No.2.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the Respondent No.2 issued Notification No.53/2017 dated 21.10.2017 for recruitment of Teachers. Under the said notification, ten (10) vacancies for the post of SGT (Hindi) in Adilabad District were notified, out of which three (3) were earmarked for OC (G) Local category. In response thereto, the petitioner applied for the said post and appeared for the examination conducted on 02.03.2018. The petitioner secured 39.500 marks and as per the revised merit list, the petitioner was placed at Rank No.10 in Adilabad District. The petitioner also attended certificate verification on 24.08.2018. 3
SK, J W.P.No.13135 of 2024 However, the final selection list was published without including the petitioner's hall ticket number and only the two candidates were shown as selected under the said category. Aggrieved thereby, the petitioner submitted representation on 05.03.2019 to Respondent No.2. The said representations were rejected on the ground that the petitioner did not secure the minimum qualifying marks of 40% required for selection under the OC (G) category. Challenging the same, the present writ petition is filed and the impugned order is liable to be set aside as the petitioner is eligible for appointment in the unfilled vacancy as the petitioner qualified in the written examination and was subjected to certificate verification.
4. The learned Standing Counsel, basing on the counter affidavit filed by Respondent No.2, submits that the petitioner had earlier filed W.P. No.4753 of 2019 on similar grounds. The said writ petition was disposed of 4 SK, J W.P.No.13135 of 2024 on 12.07.2021 with a direction to the respondents to consider the representation dated 05.03.2019 submitted by the petitioner, duly taking into account Paragraphs '8' and '12' of the Notification dated 21.10.2017 and to pass appropriate orders in accordance with law. In compliance with the said directions, Respondent No.2 issued Memo dated 06.09.2021 informing to the petitioner that he belongs to BC-D category and had secured 39 marks in the written examination. As per the Notification, the petitioner would be eligible for consideration against vacancies earmarked for BC-D category, for which the minimum qualifying marks are 35%. However, no vacancies were notified for BC-D category in Adilabad District. In the absence of BC-D vacancies, the petitioner could only be considered against OC category vacancies, for which the minimum qualifying marks prescribed are 40%. Since the petitioner did not secure the required 40% marks, he 5 SK, J W.P.No.13135 of 2024 was ineligible for selection under the OC (General) category. The unfilled vacancies from the earlier notification have been carried forward and notified afresh under Notification No.24/RC.I/TRT/DSC/2024 dated 29.02.2024 issued by the School Education Department, in accordance with the applicable rules and the petitioner does not meet the minimum eligibility criteria for selection against OC category vacancies and no relief can be granted and there are no merits and requested to dismiss the writ petition.
5. After hearing both sides and on perusing the record, this Court is of the considered view that the instant writ petition is filed questioning the action of the respondents in not selecting the petitioner for the post of Secondary Grade Teacher (Hindi) in O.C (General) Local Category on the ground that the petitioner has not secured 40 Marks in the written examination 6 SK, J W.P.No.13135 of 2024 conducted by the respondents in pursuance to the Notification NO.53/2017, dated 21.10.2017.
6. The contention of the petitioner is that he has qualified in the written examination as per the Notification by securing 39.500 Marks and minimum qualifying marks selction for B.Cs are 35% and in view of the same the petitioner is eligible for selection to the post of SGT meant for O.C (General) Category.
7. The Clause-1 of Para-VII of the impugned Notification No.53 of 2017, dated 21.10.2017, reads as under:
"1. Those candidates who qualify in the Examination (Objective Type) in order of merit by giving 80% weightage for written test and 20% weightage marks in TET Paper-I put together will be called for verification of certificates, community an category wise, for the vacancies available s required. The minimum qualifying marks for selection are OCs 40%, BCs 35%, SCs, STs and PHs 30%. The minimum qualifying marks are relaxable in the case of SC/ST/BC/PH at the discretion of the Commission."7
SK, J W.P.No.13135 of 2024
8. The petitioner now seeking appointment to the post of SGT under the OC (General) category on the ground that he secured 39.500 marks, having qualified under the B.C category, for which the minimum qualifying marks for selection is 35%.
9. The respondents have rightly contended that, based on the marks secured, the petitioner is eligible for consideration only under the B.C. category and not under the Open Category and similar issue was considered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Union of India vs. G. Kiran and Others1. The relevant portions of the said judgment are extracted hereunder:
"36. In the facts of the present case, the General category cut-off for the Preliminary Examination was fixed at 267. Respondent No. 1 secured 247.18 marks. Had the Respondent No. 1 been put against the general standard, his candidature would have been terminated at the first stage i.e., the Preliminary Examination. His candidature succeeded in the first stage of the examination because of the relaxed standards allowed in the Preliminary Examination for SC candidates i.e. 233 marks. After availing the benefit of this 1 2026 SCC Online SC 22 8 SK, J W.P.No.13135 of 2024 relaxation for admission to the Main Examination, Respondent No. 1 cannot subsequently claim to have been selected on "General Standard" merely due to his performance in the subsequent stages surpassed the general standard. Therefore, if a candidate who has resorted a relaxation at any stage of examination, would not fall within the purview of the proviso to Rule 14(ii) of the Exam Rules, 2013 and in that situation, for the purpose of the applicable Policy for cadre allocation, he would not fall within the list of candidates selected on 'General Standard' claiming General Insider vacancy of home state cadre as insider candidate..
37. In light of the above exposition of law, we are of the opinion that in the present fact situation, the 'General Insider' vacancy in Karnataka was rightfully allocated to Respondent No. 3, who qualified the Preliminary Examination, Main Examination, and Interview on general standard. It is needless to say, Respondent No. 1, having qualified the Preliminary Examination availing 'relaxed standard', becoming eligible for the Main Examination must be considered against the reserved vacancies only and cannot be considered on general/unreserved vacancies for the purpose of cadre allocation".
(Emphasis added)
10. The above said finding of the Hon'ble Supreme Court squarely apply to the facts of the present case. The petitioner, having qualified by securing 39.500 marks, by taking concession under BC-Category, now 9 SK, J W.P.No.13135 of 2024 he cannot claim in the vacancy meant for OC General Category, as there is no vacancy under the BC category. In view of the same, the petitioner is not entitled for selection under OC General Category post. The respondents have rightly rejected the application of the petitioner through impugned order dated 06.09.2021 for selection to the post of SGT (Hindi).
11. In view of the above finding, this writ petition is dismissed. No order as to costs.
Miscellaneous applications, if any, pending in this Writ Petition, shall stand closed. There shall be no orders as to costs.
_____________________ JUSTICE K.SARATH Date:31.03.2026.
trr