SPA/461/2022
2023 Latest Caselaw 452 UK

             IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND

                                  AT NAINITAL
                   HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI VIPIN SANGHI

                                          AND

                      HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE ALOK KUMAR VERMA


                    SPECIAL APPEAL NO. 461 OF 2022

                           22ND FEBRUARY, 2023

BETWEEN:
Teacher Educator Forum Uttarakhand                                .....Appellant.
And

State of Uttarakhand & others                                     ....Respondents.

Counsel for the Appellant : Mr. Ravindra Garia, learned counsel holding brief of Mr. D.S.

Mehta, learned counsel.

Counsel for the Respondents : Mr. J.C. Pande, learned Standing Counsel.

The Court made the following:

JUDGMENT:(per Hon'ble The Chief Justice Sri Vipin Sanghi)

The present special appeal is directed against the

order dated 16.11.2022, passed by the learned Single Judge,

in Writ Petition (S/S) No. 1717 of 2022. The learned Single

Judge has dismissed the writ petition preferred by the

appellant. The appellant has preferred the said writ petition to

seek the following reliefs:-

"I. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the Notification vide order No. Prog. & Moni/155/VIII-1(03)-4/2021-22, dated 23.08.2022 (contained as Annexure No.1 to the writ petition).

II. Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondents to frame Service Rules for the separate cadre of Teacher Educators expeditiously

within a fixed time frame of four weeks or such time as may be deemed suitable by this Hon'ble Court."

2. The Notification dated 23.08.2022, assailed by the

appellant-writ petitioner in the writ petition, reads as

follows:-

"िव उ राखंड रा के िजला िश ा एवं िश ण सं थानों (डाइट् स) म व र व ा, व ा, कायानुभव िश क, तकनीकी सहायक एवं सां खयकीकार के र पदों पर पद थापना हे तु उ राखंड रा म िव ालयी िश ा के राजकीय मा िमक िव ालयों के कायरत राजकीय िश क एवं धाना ापकों से आवेदन आमंि त िकये जाते ह।

िव ापन एवं आवेदन स ी िव ृत िववरण, अहता, िनयम, शत, आवेदन प का ा प इ ािद एस.सी.ई.आर.टी उ राखड की वेबसाइट- www.scert.uk.gov.in पर िदनां क 24 अग 2022 से ा िकये जा सकते ह । पूण प से भरे ए आवेदन प रा शैि क अनुस ान एवं िश ण प रषद् (एस.सी.ई.आर.टी) उ राखंड नालापानी रोड तपोवन, पो ऑ रायपुर दे हरादू न िपन कोड -248008 म केवल पंजीकृत डाक/ ीड पो से िदनां क 07 िसत र 2022 को सायं 5.00 बजे तक ीकार िकये जायगे।"

3. The case of the members of the appellant- Teacher

Educator Forum is that, in terms of the National Policy on

Education (NPE), 1986, and its Programme of Action (POA), a

Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Restructuring and

Reorganization of Teacher Education was launched in the year

1987 to create a sound institutional infrastructure of pre-

service and in-service training of teachers at elementary and

secondary level. Under this scheme, the District Institutes of

Education and Training (DIETs) were constituted.

4. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that the

members of the appellant-forum are the teacher educators,

who were posted to serve in the DIETs, after due selection

process.

5. We may observe that the learned Single Judge has

taken note of the fact, and this is not in dispute, that the

members of the appellant-forum were appointed as teachers

in Government Secondary/ High School/ Intermediate

Colleges, and they were posted in DIET's due to

administrative exigency, as recruitment to the DIET's was not

undertaken by the State.

6. The submission of learned counsel for the appellant

is that, since Service Rules for recruitment to the DIET's were

not framed, the teachers serving in Government Secondary/

High School/ Intermediate Colleges were posted in DIET's,

which, according to the appellant, was after due selection

process.

7. An advertisement was issued on 23.08.2022 by the

State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT),

inviting application for appointment on various teaching and

non-teaching positions in DIETs. It appears that the members

of the appellant-forum were concerned that once the

recruitments are made to fill up the teaching and non-

teaching positions in the DIETs, they may be reverted back to

their parent cadre.

8. Learned counsel for the appellant submits that the

issue raised by the appellant in the writ petition was that

recruitment was sought to be made on positions which do not

even exist under the Central Government Scheme,

whereunder DIETs were constituted. The posts, which,

according to the appellant, exist in the DIETs', are the

following:-

"i. Principal;

ii. Sr. Lecturer/ Lecturer in District Resource Unit for Alternative Education/ Non-Formal Education; iii. Sr. Lecturer/ Lecturer in Pre-Service Teacher Education;

iv. Sr. Lecturer/ Lecturer in In-Service Education, Field Interaction and Innovation, Coordination; v. Sr. Lecturer/ Lecturer in Curriculum, Material Development and Evolution;

vi. Sr. Lecturer/ Lecturer in Education Technology; vii. Sr. Lecturer/ Lecturer in Planning and Management, and;

viii. Sr. Lecturer/ Lecturer in Work Experience."

9. In this regard, the appellant has referred to the

guidelines issued by the Government of India, Ministry of

Human Resource Development (Department of Education),

New Delhi, in November, 1989 with regard to the District

Institutes of Education and Training.

10. Learned counsel for the appellant has sought to

place reliance on the judgment of the Supreme Court in D.C.

Wadhwa & others vs. State of Bihar & others, (1987) 1

SCC 378, to submit that the State Government is bound to

frame Statutory Rules governing the recruitment and

conditions of service in the DIETs. He submits that in the year

2013, the respondents had taken the stand that such Rules

would be framed- while issuing the communication dated

27.06.2013, constituting the cadre. However, the Rules have

still not been framed, and recruitment is sought to be made

to populate the DIETs.

11. We have heard learned counsel for the appellant

and we have also perused the impugned order.

12. It is not in dispute that the parent cadre of the

members of the appellant is that of teachers in Government

Secondary/ High School/ Intermediate Colleges. They were

merely posted in the DIETs due to administrative exigency,

and they have not been substantively appointed in the cadre

of DIETs. Thus, they have no vested right to continue to

serve in the cadre of DIETs.

13. The endeavour of the State to now fill up the posts

in the DIETs cannot be obstructed by the members of the

appellant, only because that may result that the said

members may be revered back to their parent cadre.

14. We are, therefore, not inclined to interfere with the

impugned order. The respondents should, however, examine

the issue whether any separate Rules relating to recruitment

and conditions of service in DIETs, at all need to be framed,

in the light of the fact that the guidelines of the Central

Government are already in existence.

15. We, however, make it clear that the aforesaid

observations shall not be an impediment on the respondents

in continuing and completing the recruitment process in the

DIETs.

16. The special appeal is disposed of in the aforesaid

terms.

17. Pending application, if any, also stands disposed of.

(VIPIN SANGHI, C.J.)

(ALOK KUMAR VERMA, J.) Dated: 22nd February, 2023 NISHANT