Orissa High Court
Sri Nilakantha Mishra vs Commissioner on 10 July, 2024
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK
W.P.(C) No.13550 of 2024
Sri Nilakantha Mishra .... Petitioner
Mr. D.P. Dhalsamanta, Advocate
-versus-
Commissioner, Kendriya Vidyalaya .... Opposite Parties
Sangathan and others
CORAM:
THE CHIEF JUSTICE
MISS JUSTICE SAVITRI RATHO
ORDER
Order No. 10.07.2024
02. This matter is taken up through Hybrid mode.
2. The petitioner in the present writ petition has put to challenge an order dated 22.04.2024 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Cuttack Bench, Cuttack ("the Tribunal", in short) in OA No.672 of 2022 whereby the petitioner's application has been rejected.
3. The petitioner was working as Primary Teacher at KV-1, Bolangir. A notification was issued on 02.11.2022 inviting applications for filling up various posts including the post of TGT (Mathematics) through Limited Departmental Competitive Examination (LDCE). The petitioner's candidature was not recommended, whereafter, he had filed certain representations before the authorities and thereafter, he approached the Tribunal seeking a direction to the opposite parties to consider his case for Page 1 of 4 appointment as TGT. It is worthwhile mentioning that for the post of TGT (Maths), following, inter alia, was the minimum qualification prescribed:
"The Applicant should have studied Maths in all the years of graduation with any two subjects out of Physics, Chemistry, Electronics, Computer Science, Statistics.
In case of Honours Degree in Maths, the Applicant should have studied Maths in all the years of graduation with any of the two subjects indicated in para No.1 above.
BA (Hons.) in Maths and B.Sc. (Hons.) in any subject other than Maths are not eligible for the post of TGT (Maths)."
4. The Tribunal after having considered the stand taken on behalf of the opposite parties in their counter affidavit has concluded in paragraph-11 of the impugned order as under:
"11. In this case, the respondents rejected the candidature of the applicant for the post of TGT (Maths) since the applicant did not possess the educational qualification. The applicant seeks this Tribunal to interfere in rejection of his candidature on the ground that the applicant had studied Maths for all the years of Graduation but has not produced any such evidence to substantiate except the marks sheet wherefrom prima facie it reveals that he studied Maths for two years and secured 30 marks out of 100 marks for two years only. This is also fortified by the certificate issued by Sambalpur University stating that the applicant studied the mathematics as core subject during the 1st and 2nd year. Further, the certificate also shows that he has passed the Bsc. Exam without Hons. As noted above, since eligibility qualification for Page 2 of 4 appointment to a post for recruitment is a matter to be considered by the appropriate authority and the authority concerned is well within their domain to prescribe qualifications as a condition of eligibility, after taking into consideration the nature of the job, the aptitude required for efficient discharge of duties, functionality, this Tribunal do not find any such justifiable ground to interfere in the decision insofar as eligibility of the applicant to appear at the LDCE for TGT (Maths)."
5. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner assailing the order passed by the Tribunal has attempted to convince this Court that the petitioner had pursued three year's B.Sc. (Hons) in Physics course, but passed B.Sc. (without Hons) and had studied Mathematics in all the three years of the course.
6. The above submission advanced on behalf of the petitioner is not substantiated by any document on record. Rather, the petitioner himself had relied on a certificate issued by the Controller of Examinations, Sambalpur University issued on 27.02.2023 in support of the claim of his eligibility, which is available on record. It is annexed to his rejoinder filed in OA No.672 of 2022. The last sentence of the said certificate reads thus:
"Further, this is certified that Sri Nilakantha Mishra has studied the Mathematics as core subject during the 1st year and also the 2nd year."
7. In view of this document which was relied upon by the petitioner himself before the Tribunal, it is apparent that he did not Page 3 of 4 fulfill the eligibility condition of having studied Mathematics for all the three years of B.Sc. course.
8. The finding recorded by the Tribunal as regards the petitioner's ineligibility does not suffer from any legal infirmity. We do not find any merit in the present writ petition.
9. This writ petition is accordingly dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.
(Chakradhari Sharan Singh) Chief Justice (Savitri Ratho) Judge S.K. Guin/P.A. Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed Signed by: SUBASH KUMAR GUIN Page 4 of 4 Designation: Personal Assistant Reason: Authentication Location: High Court of Orissa, Cuttack Date: 12-Jul-2024 18:26:14