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Rajiv Gandhi College Of Education vs National Council For Teacher Education on 23 August, 2022

Author: Sanjeev Narula

Bench: Sanjeev Narula

                          $~62
                          *         IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
                          +         W.P.(C) 12189/2022 & CM APPL. 36472-36473/2022
                                    RAJIV GANDHI COLLEGE OF EDUCATION                                    ..... Petitioner
                                                            Through:        Ms. Arunima Dwivedi, Ms. Swati
                                                                            Jhunjhunwala, Ms. Ashi Sharma and
                                                                            Mr. Ved Prakash, Advocates.
                                                            versus

                                    NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TEACHER EDUCATION
                                                                               ..... Respondent
                                                 Through: Mr. Rahul Madan, Standing Counsel
                                                          with Ms. Rakshita Goyal, Advocate
                                                          for R-NCTE.
                                                          Ms. Kartika Sharma and Ms. Vanshita
                                                          Gupta, Advocates for R-2.
                                    CORAM:
                                    HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV NARULA
                                                            ORDER

% 23.08.2022 CM APPL. 36473/2022 (seeking exemption from filing official translation, typed and clear copies of the dim annexures)

1. Exemption is granted, subject to all just exceptions.

2. Petitioner shall file legible and clearer copies of exempted documents, compliant with practice rules, before the next date of hearing.

3. Accordingly, the application stands disposed of.

W.P.(C) 12189/2022 & CM APPL. 36472/2022 (for ex-parte ad-interim stay)

4. Challenge is laid to impugned order dated 12th July, 20221 passed by 1 Bearing File No. 89-80/E-246531/2022 Appeal/5th Meeting, 2022 APPLSRC202214296.

the Appellate Authority whereby Petitioner-institute's appeal impugning the withdrawal order dated 30th December, 2021 passed by Southern Regional Committee ("SRC"), was dismissed.

5. Briefly stated, vide order dated 6th December, 2007 the SRC granted recognition to Petitioner-institute for conducting B.Ed Course with annual intake of 100 students. Subsequently, vide order dated 16th May, 2015, a revised recognition was issued for duration of two years with an annual intake of 100 students from academic session 2015-16 onwards. The said annual intake was later reduced to 50 students vide a corrigendum dated 21st July, 2015. Thereafter, the SRC issued a first show-cause notice to Petitioner-institute on 30th October, 2019 on account of non-submission of requisite documents in terms of conditions for their recognition.

6. Ms. Arunima Dwivedi, counsel for Petitioner-institute, argues that pursuant to the said show-cause notice, Petitioner-institute submitted the requisite documents vide letter dated 10th March, 2021. Subsequently, SRC in its 401st meeting held on 11th and 12th August, 2021, noticed certain deficiencies in the documents submitted by Petitioner-institute. It was then decided to issue a final show-cause notice to Petitioner-institute, providing an opportunity to submit the relevant documents. Thereafter, SRC in its 405th meeting held on 13th and 14th December, 2021, decided to withdraw Petitioner-institute's recognition vide order dated 30th December, 2021 [hereinafter, "withdrawal order"], which was also confirmed by the Appellate Committee without considering the documents submitted by Petitioner-institute.

7. The Appellate Committee upheld the withdrawal order on the ground that no reply was submitted by the Petitioner-institute to the final show-

cause notice dated 31st August, 2021 issued by the SRC. Ms. Dwivedi submits that the documents found to be deficient by the SRC in its meeting held on 11th and 12th August, 2021, were duly presented before the Appellate Authority, as is evident from the appeal report [annexed as Annexure P-10]. However, the same were not considered before passing the impugned order dated 12th July, 2022.

8. This Court has time and again ruled that any additional material(s), if presented in the course of deciding an appeal, must be considered by the Appellate Authority while rendering a final decision in the matter. In the past, the Courts have allowed additional material(s)/ document(s) to be produced before the respective regional committee/ Appellate Authority.2

9. Mr. Rahul Madan and Ms. Kartika Sharma, counsel for Respondents, do not dispute the position of law as it stands today, in light of the afore- noted judgments.

10. As the said documents were also placed on record before the Appellate Authority, but were not taken into consideration, in the interest of justice and in light of the position taken by co-ordinate benches of this Court, the order dated 12th July, 2022 passed by the Appellate Authority is set-aside, and the matter is remanded back to the Appellate Authority, which shall now decide the same, taking into consideration subsequent developments, and in particular, the documents which were enclosed with the appeal report by Petitioner-institute, within a period of two weeks from the date of uploading of this order in accordance with law.

Asha Devi Mahavidyala v. National Council for Teacher Education & Anr., W.P. (C) 9744/2020 dated 3rd December, 2020.; Guru Nanak Khalsa College v. NCTE & Anr. W.P. (C) No. 4218/2010 dated 2nd July, 2010; Rambha College of Education v. National Council for Teacher Education & Anr. W.P.(C) No. 3231/ 2016 dated 23rd February, 2017; National Council for Teacher Education & Anr. v. Rambha College of Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed W.P.(C) 12189/2022 Page 3 of 4 By:SAPNA SETHI Signing Date:05.09.2022 18:41:59

11. Needless to say, the Appellate Authority shall examine the merits of the case uninfluenced by any of the observations made hereinabove.

12. As the withdrawal order is of 30th December, 2021, in terms of second proviso to Section 17(1) of the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993, the withdrawal order will take effect from the end of academic session 2022-23. Therefore, the Petitioner would be entitled to take admissions with respect to the academic session 2022-23, as has been noted in the withdrawal order itself in the following terms:

"7. NOW THEREFORE, in exercise of the powers vested u/s 17(1) of the NCTE Act, 1993, the Southern Regional Committee hereby withdraws recognition granted to Rajiv Gandhi College of Education, Ganesh Nagar, Kumbarwada Road, Bidar, Karnataka-585401 run by Vishal Education Society, Bidar District, Karnataka for conducting B.Ed. programme of two years duration with an annual intake of 50 students (1 basic unit) with effect from the academic session i.e., 2022-2023 onwards."

13. With the above directions, the petition is disposed of along with other pending application(s).

SANJEEV NARULA, J AUGUST 23, 2022 nk Education, in SLP No. 42238/2017 dated 25th January, 2018.