Cuttack: Orissa High Court has invalidated the minimum qualifying marks eligibility criteria for in-service teachers to take admission in BEd course.

The state government had through a gazette notification on November 28, 2014, incorporated the eligibility criteria of minimum 50 per cent marks for the general candidates and 45 per cent marks for the reserved category in service candidates for admission into BEd course.

The eligibility criteria were included in the advertisement brochure as clause 3.12 while inviting applications for admission to BEd for the 2015-17 session.

Untrained graduates appointed against trained graduate posts sought intervention of the high court against the eligibility criteria.

However, the high court dismissed the petitions on July 16, 2016 refusing to interfere as more than one year had passed.

Subsequently, a batch of appeal petitions sought quashing of the eligibility criteria in the same year.

Allowing the the appeal petitions, the division bench of Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice K.R. Mohapatra held: "There being no provision for securing minimum mark in the graduation to be appointed as a trained graduate teacher, such a restriction for taking admission into BEd course, would render the in service candidates jobless as the in-service candidates appointed against trained graduate post required to acquire a BEd degree for approval of their services and substantive appointment to the said post".