The Madras High Court on Wednesday, 8 July granted an interim stay on the publication of Tamil Nadu Teacher Eligibility Test (TNTET) results, directing the state government and the Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) to withhold the results until 24 July. The order affects more than 4.2 lakh candidates who appeared for the examination across Tamil Nadu.

Background to the Case

The interim order was passed by a bench of Justice P.D. Asha while hearing a batch of petitions filed by three teachers, including petitioner Ramakrishnan. The petitioners challenged the qualifying marks prescribed for candidates belonging to the general category.

The TNTET notification for recruitment to Secondary Grade Teacher and Graduate Teacher posts was issued on 11 August last year. Written examinations were conducted on 15 and 16 November, with 92,412 candidates appearing for Paper I (Secondary Grade Teacher eligibility) and 3,31,923 candidates sitting for Paper II (Graduate Teacher eligibility).

The Qualifying Marks Dispute

At the heart of the petitions is a Government Order issued on 28 January that revised the qualifying benchmarks for reserved category candidates. Under the earlier regime, general category candidates needed at least 60 per cent (90 out of 150 marks) to qualify, while reserved category candidates required 55 per cent (82 out of 150). The new order reduced the qualifying threshold for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates to 40 per cent, and fixed it at 50 per cent for Backward Classes and Most Backward Classes.

The petitioners argued that the general category benchmark should similarly be brought down to 50 per cent, pointing out that Bihar follows a 50 per cent qualifying standard for general category candidates in its teacher eligibility tests. They also noted that the state's own notification for postgraduate teacher recruitment had prescribed only 50 per cent qualifying marks for general category candidates, making the higher bar in TNTET internally inconsistent, they contended.

What the Government Said

During the hearing, the Tamil Nadu government informed the court that it was in the process of taking a policy decision on whether to reduce the qualifying marks for general category candidates. The state did not oppose the adjournment.

Taking note of the government's submission, Justice Asha adjourned the matter to 24 July and directed that TNTET results must not be published in the interim. Notably, the petitioners also flagged that the TRB had delayed publishing results well beyond the one-month window that had been standard practice, with several months having elapsed since the November examinations.

Impact and What Comes Next

The stay effectively puts on hold the career prospects of over 4.2 lakh candidates awaiting results for both Secondary Grade and Graduate Teacher posts. The matter will next be heard on 24 July, when the court is expected to assess whether the government has reached a decision on the qualifying marks revision. Any change to the benchmark could require a re-evaluation of the answer sheets, potentially extending the delay further.