Expired HTET Certificates Stand Revived from 11 February 2011; Haryana Cannot Deny NCTE’s Retrospective Lifetime Validity: Punjab and Haryana High Court
Case Name: Mamta Devi v. State of Haryana and Others.
Date of Judgment: 12 August 2026
Citation: CWP No. 25154 of 2023
Bench: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Harpreet Singh Brar
Held: The Punjab and Haryana High Court held that the State Government could not restrict lifetime validity of STET/HTET certificates only to recruitment advertisements issued after 6 August 2024 when the National Council for Teacher Education had expressly granted retrospective lifetime validity from 11 February 2011. Although the State could determine the duration of a TET certificate’s validity, it had no authority to override the retrospective operation mandated by the NCTE. The contradictory State executive instructions were therefore invalid under Article 162 of the Constitution.
Summary: The petitioners had applied for various Post Graduate Teacher posts advertised by the Haryana Public Service Commission. Mamta Devi possessed an HTET certificate issued on 20 February 2014 but was informed that her candidature was liable to be rejected because its seven-year validity had expired in February 2021. During the pendency of the proceedings, the Haryana Government extended the validity of STET/HTET certificates for life through an order dated 6 August 2024, but confined the benefit to teacher recruitment advertisements issued after that date.
The High Court noted that the NCTE, acting as the statutory academic authority under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, had issued a notification on 9 June 2021 extending TET certificates’ validity for life with retrospective effect from 11 February 2011. It had also directed the concerned States and authorities to revalidate or issue fresh certificates where the earlier seven-year validity had expired.
The Court rejected Haryana’s interpretation that the expression “unless otherwise notified by the appropriate Government” empowered it to deny retrospective application. That discretion was confined to determining the duration of validity and did not extend to altering the retrospective operation expressly mandated by the NCTE. The State’s policy also created an irrational situation in which the same HTET certificate remained invalid for recruitment initiated before 6 August 2024 but became valid for advertisements issued thereafter.
The Court clarified that Article 254 was not attracted because the conflict was not between Central and State legislation. However, under Article 162, the State’s executive power could not be exercised contrary to statutory norms framed by the NCTE under Parliamentary enactments. The prospective restriction was also arbitrary and discriminatory under Articles 14 and 16 because it divided similarly situated HTET certificate holders without any intelligible differentia or rational nexus.
Decision: The High Court allowed all the connected writ petitions and set aside the Haryana Government’s order dated 6 August 2024 and HPSC’s announcement dated 7 August 2024 to the extent that they restricted lifetime STET/HTET validity to advertisements issued after 6 August 2024. The provisional rejection of Mamta Devi’s candidature was also quashed.
The authorities were directed to assess the petitioners and similarly situated candidates in accordance with the NCTE notification dated 9 June 2021. Petitioners who had appeared in interviews pursuant to interim orders were permitted to seek consideration for appointment, and the authorities were directed to decide their representations through speaking orders within four weeks. Candidates ultimately appointed would receive salary from the date of joining and notional service benefits from the date their batchmates joined, according to their merit position.