RAJESH KUMAR YADAV Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In the instant batch of writ petitions, all writ petitioners are stated to be candidates from class of reserved categories i.e. SC/ST, OBC, MBC and EWS and have appeared to pass the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers (REET)- 2022 conducted by the Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan, Ajmer (hereinafter referred to as "the Board") being a nodal agency for and on behalf of Government of Rajasthan. An advertisement No.01/2022 dtd. 12/4/2022 was published by the Board and as per terms of advertisement, candidates from General/Unreserved category are required to secure minimum 60% marks whereas candidates belonging to reserved category of SC/ST, OBC, MBC and EWS were required to secure 55% minimum marks (i.e. with relaxation of 5% marks) in order to pass/qualify the REET-2022 which is an eligibility test only, petitioners have allegedly secure 82 marks out of 150 marks in REET- 2022, 82 marks would amount to 54.67% whereas petitioners were required to secure minimum 55% which is equal to 82.5 marks out of 150 marks, hence, petitioners have not been declared pass/qualify the REET - 2022 and REET pass certificate has not been issued by the Board in favour of petitioners.

(2.) The writ petitioners have come up before this Court making out a case that the CBSE Board of Central Government and Boards of Secondary Education of other States like Haryana, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh etc. have treated 54.67% as equivalent to 55% by applying the rule of rounding off method and have issued Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) pass certificate to candidates of reserved category on scoring 82 marks out of 150 marks, therefore, petitioners in the State of Rajasthan may not be discriminated and since petitioners have also scored 82 marks, therefore, respondents be directed to declare petitioners REET- 2022 pass and to issue REET pass certificate in favour of petitioners.

(3.) Learned counsel for petitioners, in order to buttress and strength the case of petitioners would urge a rationale logic for applying method of rounding off by the CBSE Board and State Boards of Haryana, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh etc. that the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE) had issued a notification dtd. 23/8/2010 in accordance with provisions of sub-Sec. 1 of Sec. 23 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (RTE Act), notification laid down the minimum qualification for a person to be eligible for appointment as Teacher in Class I to VIII. The said notification envisage that an essential qualification for a person to be eligible for appointment as a Teacher in any of schools referred to in Clause (n) of Sec. 2 of the RTE Act that he/she should pass the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) which will be conducted by the appropriate Government in accordance with guidelines framed by the NCTE. In furtherance thereto, NCTE vide notification dtd. 11/2/2011, notified guidelines for conducting the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). According to NCTE guidelines, the question paper of TET would be of total 150 marks, comprising objective type multiple choice questions (MCQs) and each question would carry 1 mark. The candidate who intends to pass the TET, would score 1 mark on giving correct answer to one question and thus, would be able to score 100% (150 marks) by giving correct answers to all 150 questions. There is no negative marking on giving incorrect answer. As per Clause 9 of such guidelines, candidate who scores 60% or more in the TET examination will be considered as TET pass, however, school managements (Government Local Bodies, Government Aided and Unaided) have authorized to extend concessions to persons belong to SC/ST, OBC, Differently Abled Persons etc. in accordance with their extent reservation policy. The Central Government and other State Governments extended 5% concession to reserved category candidates, to score minimum qualifying marks of 60% and thus, reserved category candidates are required to score minimum 55% marks to declare TET pass. The Government of Rajasthan also extended 5% relaxation to reserved category candidates, thus, for REET- 2022, candidates from reserved category are required to score 55% marks out of 150 marks for issuance of REET pass certificate.