NAMINA DEVI PRADHAN Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE writ appeals have been filed against a common judgment and order dated 23-8-2007, passed in batch of 117 writ petitions by the learned single Judge of this Court.

(2.) THE brief facts are that the appellants/ petitioners and many other similarly situated persons were candidates who appeared in entrance examination for admission to the bachelor of Education (for short B. Ed.)courses run by the Universities in the State of Chhattisgarh. The entrance examination, commonly called as pre-B. Ed. examination 2007, was conducted by Chhattisgarh vyaysaik Pariksha Mandal, Raipur. The advertisement as also the prospectus/examination form for the said examination published/issued by the concerned authority would show that the minimum qualification for admission to the B. Ed, course was that the candidate must have passed a three years degree course from a recognized University. The source of this essential qualification was Rule 4 of the Rules framed by the State Government vide notification dated 20-4-2006 called as Chhattisgarh B. Ed. Pravesh Rules, 2006 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules 2006 ). As per the above qualification, i. e. graduation, the appellants/petitioners applied for appearing in the preed. examination and their forms were accepted. They appeared in the examination which was conducted on 13-6-2007 and were declared passed in the result dated 3-7-2007. However, when a publication for counseling was made on 17-7-2007, a rider was shown in the publication that a candidate who has secured at least 50% marks either in the Bachelor's Degree or in Master's degree or any qualification equivalent thereto, shall only be eligible for admission to the B. Ed, courses, whereas this rider of percentage was not there in the advertisement for the examination or in the prospectus/form published by the concerned authority. It was at this stage, the aforesaid action of the concerned authorities were challenged by the writ petitioners, including the appellants, and the petitions were entertained. But ultimately, the writ petitions were dismissed by the impugned common order and while dismissing the writ petitions, the learned single Judge held that the petitioners would be entitled to refund of all the payments made by them in making application forms and counseling fee thereafter.

(3.) BEFORE the writ Court, the Government took stand that the standard in respect of examinations leading to teacher education qualifications; criteria for admission to such examinations and schemes of courses or training have to be fixed by the National council for Teacher Education (in short ncte) established under the provisions of the National Council for Teacher Education act, 1993 (in short NCTE Act ). No examining body (the concerned Universities in the present cases), is authorized to hold the examination, whether provisional or otherwise, for a course or training conducted by a recognized institution, unless the institution concerned has obtained recognition from the ncte. They further contended that the ncte which is the duly empowered authority for prescribing minimum qualifications for the purpose of being eligible for taking up the B. Ed, courses, has, vide Gazette notification dated 20-7-2006 (published in the gazette of India, extraordinary, dated 21-7-2005) promulgated the National Counsel for teacher Education (Recognition Norms and procedure) (Amendment) Regulations, 2006 (for short Regulations) and as per regulation 3. 2 the minimum eligibility for getting admission into a course leading to the decree of B. Ed, was fixed that a candidate must have at least 50% marks either in Bachelor's degree and/or in the Master's Degree or any other qualification equivalent thereto with a relaxation of 5% for the candidates belonging to SC, ST and OBC categories. They also contended that thereafter, Pt. Ravishankar shukla University, Raipur vide Notification dated 10-4-2007 and Guru Ghasidas University, bilaspur vide notification dated 2-7-2007 have also affected the necessary amendment in their ordinance accordingly. The amendment in Rules 2006 was also brought by the State Government vide notification dated 6-6-2007 by amending Rule 4 (b) of the said Rules by inserting the above qualifications as per NCTE Regulations. And it is in this light, the aforesaid rider was published in the counseling notice dated 17-7-2007.