Allahabad High Court
Poonam Kumari And 4 Others vs State Of U.P. And 3 Others on 18 January, 2021
Bench: Saumitra Dayal Singh
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Court No. - 38
Case :- WRIT - A No. - 295 of 2021
Petitioner :- Poonam Kumari And 4 Others
Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Shiv Poojan Yadav,Ashok Khare (Sr.Advocate),Sunil Kumar Srivastava,Sr. Advocate Shri Ashok Khare
Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Sanjay Chaturvedi
Hon'ble Saumitra Dayal Singh,J.
1. Heard learned counsel for the petitioners and learned Standing Counsel for the State.
2. This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner with the following prayer::
"(a) a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the inclusion of the petitioners in the list of ineligible candidates published by the Basic Shiksha Adhikari, Ballia after completion of counseling (Annexure No.2 to this Writ Petition).
(b) a writ, order or direction of a suitable nature commanding the respondents to forthwith grant appointment to the petitioners as Assistant Teacher in Junior Basic School of District-Ballia on the basis of their selection in the recruitment of 69000 Assistant Teacher within a period specified by this Hon'ble Court."
3. At the outset, it has been stated by Sri Ashok Khare, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioners that the facts involved in the present case are exactly similar of the Writ-A No.403 of 2020 (Smt. Shalu Sharma and another vs. State of U.P. and 5 others) decided on 19.11.2020.
4. In that case, the petitioners, who were holding Diploma in Elementary Teacher Training Course from the State Board of School Education Jammu/ Sri Nagar were deprived of appointment as Assistant Teachers solely for the reason that said diploma was stated to be not recognized by the National Council for Teacher Education.
5. Learned Single Judge allowed that writ petition with the following observations:
"........6. Sri Dhananjay Awasthi appearing on behalf of the Respondent No. 5 concedes very fairly that after the enactment of Act 34 of 2019, the issue should not arise although no notification in pursuance to the enactment No. 34 of 2019 has been issued. Thus, what has to be considered whether the Elementary Teacher Training Certificate granted from Jammu and Kashmir would be considered to be a requisite qualification for appointment. A full Bench of this Court in 2013 ADJ (6) 310 after considering the provisions of various statutes held that for appointment to the post of Assistant Teacher in Primary Schools, one must have the qualification as provided in the notifications issued by the NCTE. It is on record that several candidates, who have obtained the diploma from Jammu and Kashmir have been selected and are being paid their salary, Annexure-3 is the chart of such students. It is also on record that one Smt. Sadhna Singh, who had obtained B.Ed. degree from Jammu and Kashmir and was denied appointment had approached this Court by following the writ petition which was dismissed, however, on an appeal being filed by her being Special Appeal No. 1323 of 2009, this Court allowed the said appeal by judgment dated 28.3.2011 holding that the degrees obtained from the institution to which recognition was not granted by NCTE can be considered for selection as the discrimination would be contrary to the mandate of Article 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India. In fact the NCTE, as recorded above, has also clarified by issuing notification clarifying that diploma or certificate in Teacher Education awarded by an institute/university in the State of Jammu and Kashmir is also valid for employment in other parts of country.
7. In view of the said clarification being issued by the NCTE, there is no occasion to deny the petitioners herein the benefit of employment only on the ground that the diploma obtained by them is from a university situated at Jammu and Kashmir.
8. In view of the above, the findings recorded above, the writ petition deserves to be allowed. Consequently, orders dated 27.11.2019 and 7.12.2019 (Annexure-7 & 8) are set aside and the mandamus is issued commanding the respondents to permit the petitioners to join on the post of Assistant Teacher in Primary School against the Assistant Teacher Recruitment Examination 2018 expeditiously preferably within a period of six weeks from the date of filing of the present order before the authority concerned.
9. The writ petition is disposed of in terms of the said order."
6. In the present case, the petitioners are stated to be holing a degree of Bachelor of Education from the University of Jammu & University of Kashmir. Thus, it is claimed that the petitioners' case stands on better footing as they hold regular degree, which is higher qualification than diploma.
7. Also, it has been stated at bar that the aforesaid order passed by the learned Single Judge has not been appealed against and it has been complied.
8. In view of the above, no real difference exists between the present case and the Writ-A No.403 of 2020 (Smt. Shalu Sharma and another vs. State of U.P. and 5 others).
9. In view of above, this writ petition is accordingly, allowed in terms of the directions and the order passed by the learned Single Judge in Writ-A No. 403 of 2020 and impugned order stands set aside to that extent.
Order Date :- 18.1.2021
Pr/-
