Tripura HC rejects plea over degree equivalence in teacher recruitment

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, August 6, 2026

The Tripura High Court has dismissed a writ petition filed by two candidates seeking recognition of their Master of Physical Education (M.P.E.) degrees as equivalent to the Master of Physical Education (M.P.Ed.) qualification prescribed for recruitment of Physical Education Teachers by the Teachers' Recruitment Board, Tripura (TRBT).

Justice Biswajit Palit held that the petitioners failed to demonstrate that their M.P.E. degrees from Manipur University were recognised as equivalent to the prescribed M.P.Ed. qualification under the applicable regulations of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).

The petition was filed by Rubal Debnath and Pintu Debnath, who challenged their exclusion from the recruitment process for 125 Physical Education Teacher posts advertised by the TRBT on December 18, 2024. They sought a direction to the authorities to treat their two-year M.P.E. degrees as equivalent to M.P.Ed. and declare them eligible for appointment.

The petitioners submitted that they had obtained B.P.Ed. degrees from Tripura University in 2014 and completed their M.P.E. course at Manipur University during the 2014-16 academic session. They contended that the NCTE Regulations, 2001 recognised the M.P.E. qualification for recruitment.

The state government and the TRBT opposed the plea, arguing that subsequent NCTE regulations issued in 2007, 2009 and 2014 prescribed M.P.Ed. as the required qualification. They also relied on the findings of an Equivalence Committee, which concluded that the petitioners' M.P.E. degrees did not fulfil the academic and professional standards of an NCTE-recognised M.P.Ed. programme.

The court noted that the petitioners had failed to produce any material establishing the continued recognition of the M.P.E. qualification under the prevailing NCTE regulations. It also observed that they had neither challenged the Equivalence Committee's findings nor made the NCTE a party to the case.

Finding no merit in the plea, the High Court dismissed the petition and permitted the TRBT to continue the recruitment process in accordance with the applicable rules.

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