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2024 DIGILAW 69 (UTT)

Pinky v. State of Uttarakhand

2024-02-13

MANOJ KUMAR TIWARI, RITU BAHRI

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JUDGMENT : Ritu Bahri, CJ. Petitioners have filed the present writ petition seeking direction to the respondents to consider their candidature to the post of Assistant Teacher, Primary School. Their candidature has been rejected on the ground that petitioners possessed two years Diploma in Education. The candidature of the petitioners has not been considered on the ground that, as per the Rules, namely, Uttarakhand Government Elementary Education (Teacher) Service Rules, 2012, D.Ed. qualification has not been mentioned as minimum qualification for appointment. Petitioners have placed on record advertisement dated 19.11.2020, 20.11.2020 and 21.11.2020 collectively (Annexure No.4), which was issued for filling up the vacancy to the post of Assistant Teacher, Primary School, except District Haridwar, Dehradun & Nainital. 2. Petitioners have placed on record Notification issued by N.C.T.E. dated 23.08.2010 (Annexure No.1), which prescribes the minimum qualification for Elementary Teachers Class I to V, which is as under: “(a) Senior Secondary (or equivalent) with atleast 50% marks and two years Diploma in Elementary Education (by whatever name known). Senior Secondary (or its equivalent) with atleast 45% marks and two years Diploma in Elementary Education (by whatever name known) in accordance with the NCTE (recognition norms and procedure) Regulation, 2002. or Senior Secondary (or its equivalent) with atleast 50% marks and four years Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.Ed.) Or Senior Secondary (or its equivalent) with atleast 50% marks and two years Diploma in Education (Special Education) AND Pass in the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) to be conducted by appropriate Government in accordance with the guidelines framed by NCTE for the purpose.” 3. The Institutes, from where the petitioners have completed their respective two years Diploma course in Education, are recognized by N.C.T.E. Copies of the recognition issued by Competent Authority of N.C.T.E. is Annexure No.2 collectively. 4. The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 lays down the manner and qualification for appointment and terms & conditions of service of the Teachers. Section 23 (1) prescribes that any person possessing such minimum qualification, as laid down by an “academic authority”, authorized by the Central Government by notification, shall be eligible for appointment as a Teacher. N.C.T.E. is the academic authority in terms of Section 23(1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, as per the Notification dated 31.03.2010 by Central Government. 5. N.C.T.E. is the academic authority in terms of Section 23(1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, as per the Notification dated 31.03.2010 by Central Government. 5. N.C.T.E. has released a Regulation by superseding the N.C.T.E. Regulation, 2009 published on 28.11.2014 with appendix-1 marked as Annexure No.3 alongwith the writ petition. As per the above said Regulation, the Diploma in Elementary Teachers Education Programme which carry different nomenclatures such as B.T.C., J.B.T., D.Ed. and (Diploma in Education) has been reclassified and recognized with nomenclature D.El.Ed. from 28.11.2014 onwards. In the above said background, as per the advertisement (Annexure No.4), petitioners are eligible for appointment to above said posts and they were placed in the merit list of counseling in District Bageshwar, however, subsequently, the respondent authorities of District Bageshwar removed the names of petitioner nos.1 & 2 from the merit list meant for counseling. Copy of the merit list for counseling is Annexure No.5. 6. On notice of this petition, a counter affidavit has been filed by Director, Elementary Education, Uttarakhand, Dehradun, taking the stand that petitioners do not have the minimum qualification for the post of Assistant Teacher, Primary School. As per the Uttarakhand Government Elementary Education (Teacher) Service Rules, 2012, the D.Ed. qualification is not mentioned and, in this backdrop, petitioners are not eligible. In the Notification of N.C.T.E. and Rules made by the State Government, the two years D.Ed. in Special Education has been mentioned as eligibility qualification. The petitioners are having two years Diploma in Education, but not in Special Education, therefore, their candidature is not considered by the Department. The appointment of Smt. Hansi Devi was before the enforcement of the 2012 Rules and petitioners cannot claim parity. In paragraph no.16 of the counter affidavit, it is stated that similarly situated D.Ed. trained persons have filed Writ Petition No.1739 of 2021 (S/S) and the said writ petition was disposed of vide order dated 04.01.2022 by observing that after participating in the selection process, after conclusion of the counseling which was held on 02.12.2021, petitioners cannot challenge the conditions of the advertisement and, in this backdrop, this writ petition deserves to be dismissed. 7. Learned counsel for the petitioners has referred to the Notification dated 28.11.2014 (Annexure No.3 at Page No.74 of the Paper Book). 7. Learned counsel for the petitioners has referred to the Notification dated 28.11.2014 (Annexure No.3 at Page No.74 of the Paper Book). This Notification at Page No.78 lays down the following condition: “1.2 The elementary teacher education programme carries different nomenclatures such as BTC, J.B.T., D.Ed. and (Diploma in Education). Henceforth, the nomenclature of the programme shall be the same across all states and it shall be referred to as the ‘Diploma in Elementary Education’ (D.El.Ed),”. 8. Petitioner has placed on record his Certificate at Page No.49 of the Paper Book, which has been issued by National Council for Teacher Education and which has certified that the Institution named as ‘Physical Education VNS Campus, Vidhya Vihar, Bhopal’ is recognized for conducting the Diploma in Elementary Education and, from this Institute, petitioner has qualified this examination. This Certificate is in tone with the Notification dated 28.11.2014 and petitioner is eligible to participate in the selection process initiated by the respondents vide advertisement dated 19.11.2020 (Annexure No.4 of the Paper Book). 9. Learned counsel for the petitioners has further referred to the Notification of the National Council for Teacher Education dated 23.08.2010 at Page No.33 of the Paper Book, where also, as per minimum qualification for Class I to V Teachers, two year Diploma in Elementary Education (by whatever name known) is to be considered as eligible. 10. As per the counter affidavit filed by the respondents i.e. Director, Elementary Education, Dehradun, the main stand taken is that the Rules of 2012 have been amended from time to time and the minimum educational qualification of D.Ed. has not been mentioned and, therefore, the District Level Selection Committee rightly declared the petitioner as ineligible for appointment as Assistant Teacher. Since in the 2012 Rules, the D.Ed. qualification has not been mentioned, the petitioner is not eligible. 11. Learned counsel for the respondents has referred to the amended Rules of 2019, which are reproduced below:- “Two years Diploma in Elementary Education from any District Education and Training Institute/District resource Center of the State, D.El.Ed. (which was known as two-year BTC in the State of Uttarakhand) or its equivalent from an institution recognized by the National Council for Teacher Education, Two year Diploma in Elementary Education D.L.Ed./Four year B.El.Ed. (which was known as two-year BTC in the State of Uttarakhand) or its equivalent from an institution recognized by the National Council for Teacher Education, Two year Diploma in Elementary Education D.L.Ed./Four year B.El.Ed. OR graduation with 50% marks and Bachelors of Education (B.Ed.)/Two Year Diploma in Education (Special Education) (D.Ed.) from an Institute recognized by NCTE but as a teacher appointed for teaching classes I to V, within two years of the person being appointed as a primary teacher, he must have completed a bridge course of 6 months a primary education recognized by NCTE. 12. As per the learned counsel for the petitioner, since petitioner has Diploma in Elementary Education, which makes him eligible even as per 2012 Rules and as per 2014 Notification issued by N.C.T.E., the stand of the State that they should have a Diploma in Elementary Education for Special Children has no relevance, as the present advertisement is for recruiting 2724 Teachers and it is not specified that it is for Special Children, therefore, this argument of the learned counsel for the respondents is liable to be rejected. 13. Keeping in view the above facts, the writ petition is being allowed and the petitioners are eligible to participate in the selection process.