Orissa High Court
Regional School Of Secondary ... vs State Of Odisha And Others on 14 March, 2022
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
W.P.(C) No.26273 of 2011
Regional School of Secondary Training .... Petitioner
and Pharmaceutical Science
Mr. Chandakant Nayak, Advocate
-versus-
State of Odisha and others .... Opposite Parties
Mr. B.A. Prusty,
Standing Counsel for School and Mass Education
CORAM:
THE CHIEF JUSTICE
JUSTICE A.K. MOHAPATRA
ORDER
Order No. 14.03.2022
10. 1. The challenge in the present petition is to the constitutional validity
of Sections 7-E and 7-F of the Odisha Education Act ('the OE Act')
which read as follows:-
"7-E. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary
contained in this Act, on and after the commencement of
the Orissa Education (Amendment) Act, 1989, the State
Government shall not accord permission for
establishment of any Private Secondary Training School
or Private Training College or recognise any School or
College established, if any, prior to the said date.
7-F. Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or
the rules made thereunder or in any judgment, decree or
order of any Court, the State Government shall not be
bound to accord permission for establishment of any
private Secondary Training School or Private Training
College, or recognise any such school or College
established, if any, prior to the 14th day of August, 1989
and non-recognition of such school or college shall not
be questioned in any Court of Law or otherwise be open
to challenge."
2. Earlier the vires of Section 7-E of the Act was upheld by the
Division Bench of this Court in Governing Body of Baliapal College
for Physical Education v. State of Odisha: 72 (1991) CLT 161.
3. In the counter affidavit filed in response to the present petition,
apart from pointing out that the above decision covers the issue
against the Petitioner, it has been stated that there is another judgment
pertaining to the very Petitioner, holding against the Petitioner as
regards its prayer to take on new students for the Certificate Training
Course. That decision is State of Odisha v. All Orissa Private
Secondary Training Schools Management Association 2011 (1)
OLR 287.
4. The third fact, is mentioned in para-9 of the counter affidavit, and
which has not been disputed by the Petitioner by filing any rejoinder
affidavit. The said para-9 reads as under :-
"9. It is apposite to mention here that the students of
unrecognized institutions cannot appear in C.T.
Examinations as per Chapter-IX of the Regulations of
Board of Secondary Education, Orissa wherein it has
been provided that no school, which is not recognized
by the Board, shall be permitted to present candidate for
any examination conducted by the Board. The present
petitioners institution admittedly is an unpermitted and
unrecognized institution and accordingly, the students of
the petitioners institution cannot be permitted to appear
in the C.T. examination and further the present
petitioners institution also cannot seek for permission
and recognition by the State Government in view of the
restriction imposed by way of Section 7-E and Section
7-F of the Orissa Education Act, 1969."
5. Learned counsel for the Petitioner states that since the matter was
not listed before the Court after the counter affidavit was filed in
2017, he could not file any rejoinder.
6. This Court is unable to appreciate the above contention. Filing of
the rejoinder was not dependent on the Petition being listed in the
Court.
7. Learned counsel for the Petitioner then seeks time to file a
rejoinder. This Court does not consider the request of the Petitioner to
be reasonable since there was sufficient time in all these five years to
file a rejoinder.
8. Learned counsel for the Opposite Party further points out that
apart from the fact that Sections 7-E and 7-F of the OE Act do not
permit establishment of a Teacher Training Institution by private
bodies, the issue of establishing a teachers' training institution is
under the domain of the Central Government by virtue of Section 14
of the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993 read with
Regulation 7(5) of the National Council for Teacher Education
(Recognition Norms and Procedure) Regulations, 2014 framed under
Section 32(2) of the National Council for Teacher Education Act,
1993.
9. In view of all the above facts, there is no merit in the petition and
it is accordingly dismissed. All pending applications are disposed of.
10. Issue urgent certified copy as per Rules.
(Dr. S. Muralidhar)
Chief Justice
( A.K. Mohapatra )
Judge
R.K. Singh/Jagabandhu
