Uttam Kumar Biswas and Another vs State of Uttarakhand and Others

B.S. Verma, J.—Heard learned Counsel for the parties and perused the record.

By means of this writ petition, the petitioners have sought a writ in the nature of certiorari quashing the termination order of the petitioners dated 31-01-2009 as Shiksha Mitra passed by respondent No. 4 (Annexure-6 to the writ petition) on the ground of non-fulfillment of educational qualification.

According to the petitioners, the petitioner No. 1 was initially appointed as Shiksha Acharya on 1-3-2004 in the Education Guarantee School (EGS) village Dhainumber (Arvind Nagar), Tehsil Sitarganj, and petitioner No. 2 was appointed on 28-11-2005 in the Education Guarantee School village Arvind Nagar No. 8. Lateron, the education guarantee schools have been upgraded to Government Primary Schools on 1-4-2008. The petitioners claim to have been absorbed in the upgraded Primary Schools and a resolution was passed on 12-4-2008 by the Village Education Committee for appointment of the petitioners as Shiksha Mitra in the same upgraded Government Primary School. Petitioners further claim that as per Government Policy, they were appointed on the sanctioned vacant post of Shiksha Mitra on 29-11-2008.

The grievance of the petitioners is that the petitioners are not being given the benefit of Government Order dated 28-6-2006 and they are entitled to complete their graduation within a period of three years. The termination order passed against them is illegal.

Counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the respondents. It is stated in paragraph No. 7 as under:

That subsequently, at the time of reconsideration of the petitioner''s matter under the provisions of the Govt. Order dt. 14/2/2008 having superseding effect over earlier Govt. Order(s) issued with respect to appointment of Shiksha Mitra, the Additional District Education Officer (Basic) came on the conclusion that inadvertently temporary approval for appointment of the petitioners as Shiksha Mitra have been wrongly granted, while they are non-graduate. Thus, in pursuance of the provisions of the prevailing Govt. Order dt. 14/2/2008, the Additional District Education Officer (Basic) directed to the respondent No. 4 to cancel the appointment of petitioners as well as another person Smt. Jawa Devi. It is relevant to state here that for appointment as Shiksha Mitra, a candidate must possess the Graduation degree, which is a mandatory requirement under the said Govt. Order dt. 14/2/2008. Copy of the Govt. Order dt. 14/2/2008 and the order of the District Education Officer dt. 29/1/2009 are being annexed as Annexure SCA-5 and SCA 6 respectively to this affidavit.

In the course of arguments, learned Brief Holder appearing for the State has submitted that Writ Petition No. 174 of 2009(S/S) filed by one Smt. Jawa Devi, involving similar controversy as that of the present writ petition, has already been dismissed by this Court by order dated 5-7-2010 itself.

It is not disputed that in view of the Government Order dated 14-2-2008 the earlier Government Orders were superseded and the qualification and it was required that the candidate who was working as Shiksha Acharya or instructor (Shiksha Anudeshak) should possess the requisite qualification i.e. graduation degree for being appointed Shiksha Mitra. In the earlier Government Order dated 15-5-2006, it was provided that the Shiksha Acharya and Shiksha Anudeshak, who do not possess graduation degree shall have to obtain the same within a period of two years. Subsequently by Government Order dated 28-6-2006, the period for obtaining the graduation decree was extended upto three years instead of two years.

Admittedly, the petitioners were not having graduation degree as per Government Order dated 14-2-2008. In the resolution dated 12-4-2008 passed by Village Education Committee, the educational qualification of the petitioners is mentioned as Intermediate, therefore, the recommendations made in their favour by the Village Education Committee for being appointed as Shiksha Mitra as on 12-4-2008 is of no avail.

In the above facts and circumstances, I find that the petitioners were not having the eligibility qualification i.e. graduation degree on the relevant date as per Government Order dated 14-2-2008. Therefore, their names could not have been recommended by the Village Education Committee for their appointment as Shiksha Mitra for non-fulfillment of qualification as per Government Order dated 14-2-2008. The writ petition being devoid of merit is liable to be dismissed.

The writ petition is dismissed. The interim order dated 29-4-2009 passed by this Court is vacated. It is made clear that for the period the petitioners had worked as Shiksha Mitra in pursuance of the interim order dated 29-4-2009 passed by this Court, the petitioners shall be entitled to get the honorarium. The respondents are directed to pay the honorarium for the period the petitioners had worked as Shiksha Mitra.