The Punjab and Haryana High Court has dismissed an appeal by a former Elementary Teacher Training (ETT) teacher in Punjab who was removed from service after the diploma she used to qualify for the post was found to be fake. The ruling was reported by LiveLaw on 17 October and by Amar Ujala on 18 October.

The case, Manjit Kaur vs State of Punjab and Others (LPA-446-2021), was decided by a Division Bench of Justice Harsimran Singh Sethi and Justice Minderjeet Yadav. A single judge had earlier rejected her writ petition against the removal order.

What the record showed

According to the reports, the appellant applied for an ETT post on the strength of a two-year Diploma in Elementary Education and joined service in December 2006. The State later found that the diploma was forged and that the body named as its issuer did not exist. LiveLaw reported that the diploma was attributed to a 'Bihar Pradesh Shiksha Parishad', which the court found had never existed.

The education department held an inquiry and issued a chargesheet, giving her an opportunity to defend herself, before removing her from service. The State relied on an earlier High Court ruling involving a qualification from the same purported institute, in which a dismissal had been upheld.

Before the Division Bench, the appellant argued that she had served for about 14 years, had obtained the diploma through what she believed was a genuine process, and had since earned a B.Ed. degree that should regularise her appointment. The Bench rejected each argument.

The court's reasoning

The judges drew a distinction between a qualification from an institute that exists but lacks recognition, where courts have sometimes allowed candidates time to acquire a valid qualification, and a document issued in the name of an institute that does not exist at all. In the second situation, the Bench said, the job was obtained by fraud and an eligible candidate was displaced. Relying on Supreme Court precedent, it held that a public appointment gained on fake documents 'cannot be allowed to continue', whatever the length of service.

On the later B.Ed. degree, the court applied the settled rule that eligibility is judged as on the last date for applications. A qualification obtained afterwards cannot make an ineligible candidate eligible retrospectively.

Why it matters for employers

The judgment adds to a line of rulings holding that long service does not protect appointments secured on forged or non-existent qualifications. For recruiting bodies, the practical lesson is to verify each qualifying certificate directly with the issuing board or university, and to confirm that the issuer is a lawfully established body, before appointment rather than years later. Candidates offered diplomas from little-known 'councils' or 'parishads' should check the issuer's legal status with the state education department or the relevant national regulator before enrolling.

Sources

This News Desk report summarises information published by the sources above, written in our own words. Persons named in criminal matters are accused, not convicted, unless a court has ruled otherwise. To report an error, use our contact page.

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