Photo Courtesy: tripuratimes
Agartala: The Tripura High Court shut down a legal bid by two job seekers trying to force the state to accept their academic credentials. Rubal Debnath and Pintu Debnath demanded that their Master of Physical Education (M.P.E.) degrees from Manipur University match the required Master of Physical Education (M.P.Ed.) qualification. Justice Biswajit Palit dismissed the petition.
The trouble started after the Teachers Recruitment Board, Tripura (TRBT) advertised 125 positions for physical education teachers on December 18, 2024. The petitioners earned their B.P.Ed. degrees at Tripura University in 2014 before getting their M.P.E. degrees during the 2014-16 term. They claimed their credentials held weight under 2001 National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) rules. The board thought otherwise.
Candidates reached the document verification stage but were told their M.P.E. degrees did not make the cut. The state and the TRBT fought back hard. They cited newer NCTE regulations from 2007, 2009, and 2014 that phased out the older M.P.E. designation. An Equivalence Committee reviewed the files and found the degrees lacked the professional standards required for an M.P.Ed. from an NCTE-approved school.
The court pointed out glaring omissions in the plaintiffs' case. They failed to bring the NCTE into the proceedings and never challenged the committee's findings directly. Justice Palit stated, "The petitioners failed to establish that their M.P.E. degrees were recognised as equivalent to the prescribed M.P.Ed. qualification under the applicable National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) regulations."
Furthermore, the court noted the pair scored lower than the selected candidates. Even with a victory, they would not have secured the jobs. The TRBT can now proceed with hiring for all 125 posts.
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