Allahabad High Court
Smt. Sulekha Devi vs State Of U.P. Thru Secy. And 3 ... on 22 September, 2014
Bench: Manoj Misra
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 38
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 36020 of 2013
Petitioner :- Smt. Sulekha Devi
Respondent :- State Of U.P. Thru Secy. And 3 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Kshitij Shailendra
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Anurag Khanna,Rizwan Ali Akhtar
Hon'ble Manoj Misra,J.
Heard learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Standing Counsel for the respondent no.1, Sri Yash Tandon, holding brief of Sri Anurag Khanna, for the respondent nos.2 and 3 and Sri R.A. Akhtar for the respondent no.4.
The petitioner belongs to the OBC category. She had appeared in the Joint Entrance Examination-2010 for seeking admission to the B.Ed. course for the academic session 2010-11. The notification of the Joint Entrance Examination provided that a candidate must possess minimum 45% marks at the graduation level if he belongs to the general or OBC category whereas for visually handicapped candidates, there was a relaxation of 5%. It appears that having been declared successful in the Joint Entrance Examination, the petitioner got admission and she appeared in the B.Ed. Examination-2011. The result of the petitioner was, however, not declared by the University on the ground that she had less than 50% marks at the graduation level, therefore, was not eligible to seek admission in the B.Ed. course. As a result, the petitioner filed Writ-C No.3495 of 2013, which was disposed of by order dated 22.01.2013 giving liberty to the petitioner to make a representation to the Vice-Chancellor of the University. The Vice-Chancellor of the University was required to examine all aspects including the eligibility of the petitioner for admission to B.Ed. course in the relevant year with reference to the NCTE norms and other conditions specified as also with reference to other materials and to take an appropriate decision.
Pursuant to the direction given by this Court, the Vice-Chancellor of the respondent-University examined the matter and by his order dated 18.02.2013 rejected the representation of the petitioner holding therein that according to the NCTE norms the minimum marks required at the graduation level for a candidate to be eligible for admission in the B.Ed. course was 50%, whereas the petitioner had a lower score, therefore, she was not eligible, accordingly, her result cannot be declared.
The learned counsel for the petitioner has challenged the order passed by the Vice-Chancellor on the ground that in the advertisement of the Joint Entrance Examination-2010, the minimum percentage required at the graduation level was 45% for a candidate to be eligible for admission, therefore, the petitioner was entitled to appear in the examination. It has also been submitted that the NCTE norms provide for relaxation in the qualifying marks in favour of the reserved category candidates as per the rules of the concerned government and, therefore, the petitioner was entitled to relaxation of 5%, which, if provided to the petitioner, would make her eligible for admission.
Sri R.A. Akhtar, who has appeared on behalf of NCTE-respondent no.4, has submitted that Clause 3 of Appendix 4 of the National Council for Teacher Education (Recognition Norms and Procedure) Regulations, 2009, provides minimum eligibility criteria for a candidate to take admission in the B.Ed. programme. Sub-section (2) of Clause 3 provides as follows:-
"(2) Eligibility.- (a) Candidates with at least fifty percent marks either in the Bachelor's Degree and/or in the Master's degree or any other qualification equivalent thereto, are eligible for admission to the programme.
(b) The reservation in seats and relaxation in the qualifying marks in favour of the reserved categories shall be as per the rules of the concerned Government."
It has been submitted that the petitioner has failed to demonstrate that any relaxation has been provided for the OBC category candidate by the State Government. It has thus been submitted that in absence of any relaxation by the State Government in respect of the minimum eligibility marks of 50%, the petitioner, who has admittedly secured only 46.7% marks in her graduation, was not even eligible for admission, therefore, declaration of her result is out of question.
On 08.07.2013, this Court had required the learned counsel for the petitioner to place on record documents to substantiate that the minimum requirement of obtaining 50% marks at the qualifying examination, as stated by the Vice-Chancellor in the impugned order, was not correct.
Despite opportunity, the petitioner has failed to produce any document so as to show that the minimum 50% marks was not required from a candidate to be eligible for seeking admission in the B.Ed. course. The petitioner has also not been able to show that there was any relaxation provided by the Government for OBC category candidate.
In view of the above, as the norms laid down by the NCTE Act, 1993 are binding on the University by virtue of being under a central enactment made in exercise of legislative power under Entry 66 of List I of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution and, as per the norms, a candidate is required to have minimum 50% marks at the graduation level for being eligible to seek admission to the B.Ed. course, which the petitioner does not possess, no fault can be found with the order passed by the Vice-Chancellor.
The writ petition is, accordingly, dismissed.
Order Date :- 22.9.2014
AKShukla/-
