KALPANA CHAUHAN Vs. STATE OF U P

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant filed a writ petition seeking a mandamus to the State to grant permission to undergo the Special BTC Training Course-2004. The appellant also sought to question the legality of an order dated 22 February 2007 passed by the Director, State Council of Educational Research and Training, U P, Lucknow (SCERT).

(2.) The case of the appellant is that she was selected for Special BTC Training Course-2004 and was placed at Serial No 132 in the merit list of selected candidates. The appellant states that she is an OBC candidate having secured 292.30 marks as against the last selected candidate who had secured 203.58 marks. When the appellant appeared for counselling, her name did not find place in the select list which was published on 19 July 2004 and she was informed that her candidature had been rejected on the ground that she had completed her B Ed degree course from a college affiliated to Bundelkhand University, Jhansi which had not obtained requisite permission from the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) for the said course. The appellant filed a writ petition in which an order was passed that the appellant shall not be deprived from being sent for training for Special BTC Training Course-2004 provided, inter alia, that the B Ed degree course obtained by the appellant had been recognized by the NCTE. On 30 October 2004, an order was passed by the Director, SCERT, holding that the appellant was not qualified for Special BTC Training Course-2004 as the recognition of NCTE had not been obtained by the institution for the B Ed degree course. In the meantime, a Division Bench of this Court rendered its judgment on 9 December 2005 in Ekta Shukla Vs State of U P (Special Appeal No 630 of 2005 decided along with connected appeals). The writ petition filed by the appellant was disposed of by directing the authorities to consider the case of the appellant having due regard to the judgment in Ekta Shukla . Eventually, an order was passed by the second respondent on 22 February 2007 distinguishing Ekta Shukla's case and holding that in the present case, the appellant had passed her B Ed degree course in 1997 from Shri Guru Harikishan Degree College, Jhansi. It was stated that the institution had applied for recognition to NCTE on 26 December 2003 for academic session 2004-05 and recognition was granted only on 5 November 2004. In these circumstances, it was held that the appellant having a B Ed degree of 1997 was ineligible since the institution was not recognized from the NCTE in 1997.

(3.) Section 14 of the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993 (NCTE Act) provides as follows: