The Delhi High Court has held that for candidates applying for primary teacher’s job, bachelor of education (BEd) degree will no longer be an eligibility criterion. However, the candidates will have to undergo a specialised training programme. While citing a Supreme Court judgement on the issue, Justice S Ravindra Bhat quashed a recent advertisement inviting BEd qualified candidates for primary teacher’s job in Delhi government schools. Justice Bhat also levied a fine on the government and asked them to pay Rs 10,000/- each to those persons or petitioners who approached the court. These petitioners, all BEd qualified, were aggrieved by the fact that Delhi government had issued a misleading advertisement, thereby putting their career in jeopardy. The petitioners had sought compensation from the government. Justice Bhat also directed MCD and Delhi government to hold an inquiry to find out who was responsible behind issuing such an advertisement. The judge has sought a report and said the fine amount should be deducted from the salaries of the errant officers. In April this year, an advertisement was issued by the Delhi Subordinate Selection Board for the recruitment of primary teachers in the MCD and Delhi government schools. While there were 1.813 vacancies in MCD, Delhi government had issued a requirement for just 36 teachers. The recruitment test had to be conducted on April 24. But before the same, candidates holding specialised degrees like the JBT and NTT approached the court and said in view of the Supreme Court judgement BEd qualified candidates were not eligible for the post. During the course of arguments Delhi government claimed to have mentioned BEd as one of the eligibility criterion since the degree was one of the requirements for teachers teaching in the middle school. MCD, claimed, that although the Supreme Court had passed the order, their recruitment rules had not been updated.