MAHENDRA KUMAR JATOLIA Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) All these appeals are directed against the judgment of the learned Single Judge dtd. 8/10/2018, whereby two writ petitions, being S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 9314/2018, filed by Mahendra Kumar Jatolia and Others (appellants in D.B. Civil Special Appeal (Writ) No. 1322/20188) and S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 9603/2018 filed by Vivek Kumar Devesh and Others (appellants in D.B. Civil Special Appeal (Writ) No. 1391/2018), were dismissed. D.B. Civil Special Appeals (Writ) No. 1637/2018 and 79/2019 have been filed against the same judgment with applications seeking leave of the court to assail the same judgment and were therefore clubbed with the two special appeals that were filed by the original writ-petitioners.

(2.) The writ petitioners challenged Clause 13(2) of the advertisement dtd. 12/4/2018 which prescribed the marks secured by the candidates in different examinations of the Rajasthan Teachers Eligibility Test 2011, 2012 (for short, 'the RTET') and the Rajasthan Eligibility Examination for Teachers 2015 and 2017 (for short, 'the REET') as the sole criteria of selection on the post of Teacher Gr.III (Level-I). Prayer was made that the respondents be directed to normalize/standardize the marks of the said different four examinations before making the selection on the post of Teacher Gr.III (Level-I). Further prayer was made that the respondents be directed to correct the answer key in respect of the questions Nos. 1, 11, 17, 21 (subject of Child Development and Pedagogy), 37 (subject of Language-I Hindi), 99, 107 (Subject of Mathematics) and 137 (subject of Environment Studies), all of E-series, of the REET 2017. An alternative prayer was made for a direction to the respondents to conduct the written examination for selection on the post of Teacher Gr.III (Level-I) or to make selection solely on the basis of marks in REET 2017 with weightage of marks being given to qualifying examination. The learned Single Judge was, however, not persuaded to grant any of the prayers and therefore dismissed the writ petitions in toto. Hence these appeals.

(3.) According to the criteria of selection notified by the respondents in clause 13(2) of the advertisement, the merit list was required to be prepared on the basis of marks secured by the candidates in RTET/REET examinations respectively in the years 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017. Therefore, the highest marks secured in any of them would form the basis for selection. No weightage whatsoever has been given to the marks secured by the candidates in their eligibility academic examinations such as Senior Secondary or BSTC. The appointment to the post of Teacher Gr.III is governed by the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994 (for short, 'the Act of 1994') and the Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Rules, 1996 (for short, 'the Rules of 1996'). The Teachers have been divided in the category of Level-I and Level-II. The Teachers at Level-I teach students of Class I to Class V, whereas the Teachers at Level-II teach the students of Class VI to Class VIII. Rule 266(3) of the Rules of 1996, incorporated vide notification dtd. 8/6/2016, provides that whatever qualification has been laid down by the National Council for Teacher Education (for short, 'the NCTE') under the provisions of sub-sec. (1) of Sec. 23 of the Right of Children to Fee and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (for short, 'the RTE Act') from time to time, shall be the eligibility for appointment. Rule 270 to Rule 277-B relate to 'Procedure for Direct Recruitment', while Rules 270 to 273 are general in nature. Rule 270 mandates for inviting applications. Rule 271 states that there shall be a format of application, which shall be prescribed by the Committee. Rule 277 provides that the Committee shall scrutinize the applications and Rule 273 gives a discretion to hold the written test for all categories of posts except for the posts of Driver and Class-IV and the posts enumerated in Clause (iii) of Sec. 89(2) of the Act of 1994. Primary and Upper Primary School Teachers are the posts enumerated in Clause (iii) of Sec. 89(2). Rule 277-A of the Rules of 1996 inserted on 15/10/2015 provides the procedure and method of direct recruitment to the post of Primary and Upper Primary School Teachers. Clause (i) of Rule 277-A provides that the authorized agency, (which is Board of Secondary Education for Rajasthan, Ajmer), shall invite applications by advertising the vacancies. Clause (iv) of Rule 277-A provides that the authorized agency shall prepare category wise select list of the candidates declared successful on the basis of the criteria of selection laid down by the State Government from time to time. The Rules of 1996 do not provide the criteria for selection and leave it to the wisdom of the State Government to prescribe such criteria. The NCTE by notification dtd. 11/2/2011 issued the guidelines under Sec. 23(1) of the RTE Act, for conducting the Teachers Eligibility Test by all the States. Clause 9(a) of the said guidelines provides that whosoever scores 60% or more in the examination will be considered as having qualified the TET. Clause 9(b) of the guidelines states that weightage should be given to scores of TET in the recruitment process but qualifying the TET by itself does not confer right on any person for recruitment/employment because TET is only an eligibility criterion. The NCTE issued another notification dtd. 29/7/2011, according to which the minimum qualification for a person to be eligible for appointment as a Teacher for Classes I to V, would be Senior Secondary or its equivalent with at least 50% marks and 2-year Diploma in Elementary Education or Senior Secondary or its equivalent with at least 45% marks and 2-year Diploma in Elementary Education in accordance with the NCTE (Recognition Norms and Procedure), Regulations, 2012 or Senior Secondary or its equivalent with at least 50% marks and 2-year Diploma in Education (Special Education) or Graduation and two year Diploma in Elementary Education, with further condition that the candidate should have passed the TET conducted in accordance with the guidelines of the NCTE.