Rishi Kant Sinha vs State of Jharkhand

Mr. H.C. Mishra, J.—Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned counsel for the respondent State.

Petitioner is aggrieved by the order contained in memo No.471, dated 12.3.2014 passed by Respondent No.3, Director (Secondary Education), Human Resources Development Department, Govt. of Jharkhand, as contained in Annexure-1/1 to the writ application, whereby the claim of the petitioner for accepting his joining on the post of Assistant Teacher, in DPL (+2) High School, Baghmara, in the district of Dhanbad, has been rejected by the respondent No.3, by a reasoned order.

The petitioner had earlier filed a writ application in this Court, being WP(S) No.6952 of 2012 for the same relief, wherein it was stated that the petitioner was selected as successful candidate for appointment to the post of Assistant Teacher in +2 school in the State of Jharkhand, by order dated 20th July 2012, and he was posted in DPL (+2) High School, Bhghmara, in the district of Dhanbad, but the District Education Officer, Dhanbad, was not accepting his joining, for which he had also given representation before the Director (Secondary Education), Human Resources Department, State of Jharkhand, but his grievance was not redressed. The said writ application was opposed by the State Government stating that the petitioner had not having the B.Ed. degree from a teacher''s training institute recognised by the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE). However, this Court, by order dated 7.8.2013 disposed of the said writ application directing the petitioner to agitate his claim before the Director (Secondary Education), who was directed to take appropriate decision in accordance with law.

Pursuant to the aforesaid order of this Court as contained in Annexure-1 to the writ application, hearing was given to the petitioner by the respondent No.3 Director (Secondary Education), in which, the District Education Officer, Dhanbad was also heard. It was claimed by the petitioner that he had obtained his B.Ed. degree in the year 2006 from Bhartiya Siksha Parisad, under the State of UP. At that time, the said Institute had no recognition from the NCTE, but the Institute had filed a writ petition No.2716 of 1997 (MS) before the Hon''ble Allahabad High Court, and pursuant to an ad-interim order passed in the writ petition, the instituted was permitted to carry on with B.Ed. Education. On that basis, the petitioner claimed for his appointment as Assistant Teacher in +2 school. The prayer of the petitioner was opposed by the District Education Officer, Dhanbad, pointing out that the post of Assistant Teacher was advertised and in the advertisement, it was clearly mentioned that the candidate must be possessing B.Ed. degree from a recognised institution, which meant that the institution should be recognised by NCTE, which came in existence in the year 1995. If the B.Ed. degree was obtained by any candidate prior to that, then the institution should be recognised by the concerned State Government or the University Grants Commission (UGC). It was also pointed out by the District Education Officer that in the appointment letter, it was clearly mentioned that if it was found that the candidate had not obtained the B.Ed. degree from a recognised institution, his appointment shall stand canceled without any further notice. In view of the aforementioned facts, the Director (Secondary Education), Government of Jharkhand, by the impugned order as contained in memo No.471 dated 12.3.2014, came to the conclusion that the petitioner had obtained the B.Ed. degree from Bhartiya Siksha Prisad in the year 2006, which is not the recognised institution by NCTE and accordingly, his representation was rejected.

Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the impugned order passed by the Director (Secondary Education), as contained in Annexure-1/1 is absolutely illegal, in as much as, the Bhartiya Siksha Prisad had filed the writ application in the Allahabad High Court, which is still pending and in the said writ application, an ad-interim order has been passed in favour of the institute for carrying on the teachers training education. The Order of the Allahabad High Court has been brought on record as Annexure-4 to the writ application. It is the case of the petitioner that the said writ petition is still pending and accordingly, in view of the interim order, the B.Ed. degree of this petitioner ought to be treated as valid and accordingly, it is a fit case, in which the petitioner ought to have been allowed to join the post of Assistant Teacher. It is also submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that the Government of Mizoram has also recognised the degree of Bhartiya Siksha Parisad as one time settlement, by the letter as contained in Annexure-7 to the writ application.

Learned counsel for the State on the other hand as opposed the prayer submitting that the Bhartiya Siksha Parisad is not a recognised institute by the NCTE and accordingly, in view of the clear condition in the advertisement itself that the candidate must be having the qualification of B.Ed. from the recognised institute by NCTE, the claim of the petitioner cannot be considered.

Having heard learned counsels for both the sides and upon going through the record, I am of the considered view that only in view of the interim order passed by the Allahabad High Court allowing the institute for continuing the curriculum of B.Ed. training, it cannot be said that the recognition has been granted to the said institute. No order has been brought on record to show that even interim recognition has been granted to the institute by the NCTE. Learned counsel for the petitioner is not able to produce any document before this Court to show that the institute has been recognised by NCTE.

In the facts of this case, since the petitioner is not having any B. Ed. degree from an institute, recognised by NCTE, no claim can be made out by the petitioner, either for the appointment on the post of Assistant Teacher in +2 High School, or for allowing the petitioner to join the post of Assistant Teacher in any such school.

There is no merit in this writ application and the same is accordingly, dismissed.