SUBHASHREE PANIGRAHI Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AS all these Writ Petitions involve common questions of law, the same are taken up for hearing together. For better appreciation W.P.(C) No.14070 of 2013 is taken up first as the leading case.

(2.) W .P.(C) No.14070 of 2013 has been filed by the petitioners challenging the arbitrary action of the opposite parties in fixing the criteria for admission to D.EI.Ed. (CT) Course for the first time in respect of the session 2013 -15 though no such criteria was fixed for the previous years.

(3.) A counter affidavit has been filed by opposite party no.2 inter alia taking the stand that after introduction of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act, 2009") the norms and standards for a School stipulates that one teacher for Class -VI to Class -VIII per class is required for the subjects i.e. Science and Mathematics, Social Studies and Languages. To impart better education to the children a meeting was held on 29.4.2013 where these stipulations were formulated and the same was approved by the Government of Odisha in the Department of School and Mass Education vide their letter No.11514/SME dated 14.5.2013. It was decided that each candidate shall be considered for selection to take admission in D.EI.Ed (CT) Course for the session 2013 -15, who have studied at least two School subjects besides the language subjects and any two School subjects out of the list must have been opted by the candidate at +2 levels. Since the petitioners have not possessed those two School subjects in their +2 level, they are not eligible to take admission in D.EI.Ed (CT) Course. A copy of the proceedings of the meeting held on 29.4.2013 is annexed as Annexure -A/2 to the counter affidavit.