HARISH CHAND Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner before this Court is a graduate in Commerce and has qualifications which include two year Diploma in Elementary Education from a Government Institute from Delhi, known as State Council of Education Research and Training, which is recognized by National Council for Teachers Education (from hereinafter referred to as the "N.C.T.E"). In the present writ petition, he has primarily challenged Rule 9 (A) (ii) of Uttarakhand Government Elementary Education School (Teachers) Service Rules, 2012 of Uttarakhand, by which one of the mandatory qualifications for selection and appointment for the post of Primary School Teacher is that a candidate must have done his two years of Diploma in Elementary Education, which is known as Basic Teaching Certificate (i.e. B.T.C.) in Uttarakhand, from one of the thirteen training centres in Uttarakhand alone. In other words, two years of Diploma in Elementary Education from an other institute which is outside these 13 District Centres of Uttarakhand (irrespective of that institute being recognized by the Central Government), is not a proper qualification for a teacher in elementary education in Uttarakhand This provision has been challenged, inter alia, on ground of it being violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) By the 42nd Amendment of the Constitution of India, education was omitted from the State List and inserted in the Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. Thereafter vide 86th Amendment of the Constitution of India, 1950 Article 21A was inserted in Part III of the Constitution of India as one of the Fundamental Rights i.e. Right to Education. Article 21-A of the Constitution of India reads as under :-

(3.) It took seven years for the Parliament to finally bring a legislation on this, which is known as the "Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009" (from hereinafter referred to as the Act). The Act, in substance, prescribes the manner in which the free and compulsory education in India has to become a reality, which is now the Fundamental Right enshrined in Part III of the Constitution of India. The Act is an extremely important piece of legislation, which seeks implementation of the mandate of the Constitution by not only making free and compulsory education a reality but by making elementary education a quality education in India. This is the principal focus of the Act.