The Punjab and Haryana High Court issued strong directions against the State of Haryana for unlawfully starting teacher education degree courses without permission from the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). The bench, comprising Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Rohit Kapoor, was hearing three connected petitions filed against the Union of India and the State of Haryana.
The petitioners challenged the denial of recognition to run a four-year integrated B.A. B.Ed. programme by the State Institutes of Advanced Studies in Teacher Education (SIASTE), Kurukshetra and Gurugram. According to the documents, the State of Haryana had initially established “Prarambh” in Jhajjar in 2013, with NCTE’s approval for 100 students. Later, in 2020, the Government sought to expand operations by upgrading DIET institutions in Kurukshetra and Gurugram into SIASTEs. However, the High Court noted that the State proceeded to admit students even before obtaining mandatory NCTE approval.
The bench expressed shock over the State’s actions, terming it “dereliction of duty” and an instance where officers “played with the career of hundreds of students.” The Court noted that the State’s 2020 application lacked essential institutional details and could not be treated as valid, observing that the NCTE had correctly refused to grant retrospective approval.
The Court has directed the Chief Secretary of Haryana to conduct an inquiry to fix responsibility on officers who authorized the unauthorized courses and to detail measures planned to compensate affected students. The Chief Secretary must file a personal affidavit identifying responsible officials and the proposed corrective actions before November 20, 2025, when the matter is scheduled for the next hearing.