K.VASUDEVAN Vs. PRINCIPAL SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The issue involved in these writ petitions are one and the same and as such, they are taken up together and disposed of by this common order.

(2.) The prayer in these writ petitions is for a Mandamus directing the respondents to sanction annual increment to the petitioners in the B.T. Assistant posts as well as incentive increment for having acquired Post Graduation, without reference to passing of Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) with all consequential and other attendant benefits, based on the representation submitted by the petitioners.

(3.) After the advent of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 [in short 'RTE Act'], the National Council for Technical Education (NCTE) was appointed as academic authority under Sec. 23(1) of the Act, who issued Notification dtd. 23/8/2010 prescribing educational qualification for teachers taking classes for Standards I to VIII, which include passing of Teachers Eligibility Test [TET] to be conducted by the appropriate Government as one of the eligibility condition prescribed therein. Subsequently, NCTE issued notification dtd. 27/9/2011, amending the earlier notification dtd. 23/8/2010. As per the NCTE notification, passing of TET, conducted by the appropriate Government has to be considered as one of the eligibility condition for appointment to the post of teachers for taking classes to Standards I to VIII.