Rajasthan High Court - Jaipur
Gurvinder Singh vs State (Education Department)Ors on 22 March, 2012
Author: M.N. Bhandari
Bench: M.N. Bhandari
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT JAIPUR BENCH, JAIPUR S.B. CIVIL WRIT PETITION NO.14607/2011 (Gurvinder Singh Vs. State of Rajasthan & Ors.) Date of Order : 22nd March, 2012 HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE M.N. BHANDARI Mr.Arvind Soni, for the petitioner. REPORTABLE By the Court:
By this writ petition, following prayers have been made:
In these circumstances, it is, therefore, prayed that this Hon'ble Court may pleased to accept this writ and the respondents may kindly be directed to treat the certificate of clearance of secondary examination by the petitioner from respondent Council of Secondary Education, Maholi equivalent to the certificate of clearance of secondary examination from the Board of Secondary Education, Ajmer by issuing appropriate writ or direction or order in the interest of justice.
Respondents be further directed by issuing writ of mandamus for giving the appointment on the post of Forest Guard in pursuance to the selection of the petitioner and being stood at No.1 in merit list, with all consequential benefits.
Any other appropriate order or direction which this Hon'ble Court deems just and proper in the facts and circumstances of this case may kindly also be passed in favour of the petitioner.
The paras quoted above show prayer to treat certificate of secondary obtained from Council of Secondary Education, Mohali equivalent to certificate of secondary examination from Board of Secondary Education, Ajmer. A further prayer is for appointment on the post of Forest Guard pursuant to selection made by respondents.
It is stated by learned counsel that petitioner pursued his studies and qualified secondary examination course from Council of Secondary Education, Mohali (for short the Council). After obtaining said qualification, he applied for the post of Forest Guard pursuant to advertisement issued by the respondents. The petitioner stood in merit yet was not given appointment. After great efforts, petitioner could know that denial of appointment is for want of validity of qualification of secondary obtained by petitioner from Council of Secondary Education, Mohali. Referring to the document at Annex.2 issued by the Council of Secondary Education, Mohali, it is stated that aforesaid is Society registered under the Society Registration Act 21 of 1860. The certificate given by the Council is even recognized by Jamia Urdu Aligarh apart from other institutions in State of Andhra Pradesh. A reference has also been given regarding appointment of those, who obtained qualification from Council of Secondary Education, Mohali. Accordingly, prayer is made to direct the respondents to recognize Council of Secondary Education, Mohali so as the qualification obtained by the petitioner. A writ petition has also been filed by the Council before the Hon'ble Punjab and Haryana High Court so as before this Court. Notices on the writ petitions have been issued and are pending before the Courts.
Learned counsel appearing for the Board of Secondary Education, Ajmer, on the other hand submits that Council of Secondary Education, Mohali is not a recognized institution. The application made by the Council of Secondary Education, Mohali was taken up for consideration by the Board. It has now came to the notice that similar issue has already been decided by this Court in the case of State of Rajasthan & Ors. Vs. Firdos Tarannum reported in 2006 (1) RLW 827. It is in regard to Jamia Urdu Aligarh. The status of two institutions, namely, Jamia Urdu Aligarh and Council of Secondary Education, Mohali is not different. An institution can grant degree if it is an University or an affiliated college. In the same way, it could be done by a State Board of Secondary Education and its affiliated schools. The Council of Secondary Education, Mohali is neither a Board of Secondary Education nor an University. It is not recognized by any State Board of Secondary Education or University. The examination of students is conducted by the Council of Secondary Education, Mohali itself. Thus, it is not controlled by State Board of Secondary Education or by University. Merely for the reason that it is a Society registered under Societies Act does not mean that education imparted by them is to be treated as recognized.
I have considered the submissions made by learned counsel and perused the record.
The petitioner is one, who appeared for selection to the post of Forest Guard. It seems that he is in merit, however, appointment is denied on the ground urged by learned counsel for petitioner. The issue of qualification obtained by petitioner from Council of Secondary Education, Mohali is required to be decided by this Court. It is admitted by the learned counsel that Council of Secondary Education, Mohali is neither University nor State Board of Secondary Education created by a statute. It is only a Society registered under the Societies Act. There is nothing on record to show that aforesaid Council is even affiliated to University or State Board of Secondary Education created under statute.
In view of aforesaid factualaspects, the qualification obtained by petitioner from the Council cannot be said to be recognized. The Division Bench of this Court while deciding the appeal in the case of Firdos Tarannum (supra) held that Jamia Urdu, Aligarh is not a recognized institution. The said judgment was given after discussing earlier two judgments of this Court. The Division Bench took notice of the fact that no sanction of law is shown to authorize the institution to issue certificate or degrees. An institution can issue certificate or degree if it has legal sanction behind it. It may be either under the State Government or Central Government or even under the University Grants Commission (for short the UGC). Relevant Paras of the judgment in the case of Firdos Tarannum (supra) are quoted hereunder for ready reference:
4.The State Government ignored to file reply in the writ petition. The matter was disposed of by the learned Single Judge at the admission stage. The learned single Judge noticed that a Division Bench of this Court, in the matter of DB Civil Special Appeal NO. 258/2004 Miss. Altaf Bano vs. State of Rajasthan has considered the qualifications of the similarly situated persons as valid. On the basis of the letter of the State Government dated 03.02.1965 qualifications of the petitioner, were considered, to be valid, and therefore, directed the State Government to consider the case of the incumbent as he was possessed of the qualification required by the Education Department. In view of the judgment of the Division Bench of this Court in Miss. Altaf Bano's case (supra), the learned Single Judge was of the opinion that the writ petition deserves to be allowed. The learned Single Judge also noticed a decision of this Court in the matter of Tayyab Hussain vs. State of Rajasthan, DB Civil Review Petition No.22/2002, wherein a Division Bench of this Court, considering the review petition, came to the conclusion that for the appointment of Teacher Grade III, the qualifications of Urdu as granted by Zamiya Urdu, Aligarh as Adib Mahir and Adib Kamil are sufficient qualifications. While holding so, the Division Bench held:
We may also notice that it was not the case of the respondents at any time that recruitment for the post of Teacher Gr.III, Adib Mahir/Adib Kamil are not recognized qualification for the purpose of recruitment.
5. The appellant State of Rajasthan, assailing the judgment of the learned Single Judge, contended that since the writ petition was decided at the admission stage, therefore, no reply could be filed and the case of the State Government was not placed before the learned Single Judge in the right perspective. The learned Additional Advocate General has filed an application under order 41 Rule 27 read with Section 151 CPC, alongwith two orders of State Government contending that the qualifications possessed by the petitioner are the qualifications acquired from Zamiya Urdu, Aligarh. Such qualifications have been held to be not recognized vide State Government order dated 24.04.1993.-
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6. The learned counsel appearing for the State Government further urged that State of Rajasthan has issued a letter on 23.11.1991 in which it has been specified inter alia :-
??? ???????? ???? ????? ?? ???? ?????? 216/4/52-???? ?????? 30.9.1952 ?? ??? ??? ???? ???? ??????? 6.7.62 ?????? ?? ?????? 4.7.1952 ?????? ??????? ???? ??? ??, ?? ??????? ???? ????? ?? ?? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ?? ?? ?? ????? ????????????? ?? ?? ?? ???????? ?? ????? ????? ?? ??????? ?? ?????? ??????? ???? ?? ?? ?? ????????????? ?????? ???? ???? ?? ???? ?(????) ?? ?????? ???? ????? ?????? ????????????? ???? ?? ??????? ????? ???? ?? ??, ???? ?????? ????? ???????? ?????? ??? ?? ?????? ?? ????????? ?? ????? ????. ?? ?????? ?? ????????????? ?? ????????????? ???? ?? ???????? ?????? ????? ??????? (??????/????????) ?? ??????? ?? ??? ????? ????? ?????? ??? ?? ??? ???? ???????? ???? ?? ???????? ???? ??.
7.The learned Counsel contended that in view of the orders of the State of Rajasthan, any qualification which is not acquired from an Institution which is established under the orders of the Central Government, State Government or by the sanction of the University Grants Commission, such qualifications would not be valid qualifications for the purposes of employment. Zamiya Urdu, Aligarh is not an institution as established by and under the orders of the Central Government, State Government or University Grants Commission. Therefore, for the purposes of employment these qualifications cannot be considered to be one which is valid.
9. The Zamiya Urdu, Aligarh being an institution not established by either of these authoritative institutions, the degree cannot be recognized. This aspect was made more clear by the orders of the State Government dated 24.04.1993 which has been produced by the State Government which recites that Zamiya Urdu, Aligarh is not an institution established by the sanction of law, therefore, the Degree or certificate granted by this institution is of no consequence for the purpose of employment.
17. Zamiya Urdu, Aligarh is an Institution which is allegedly parting Urdu Education. The respondent-petitioners have not shown us any sanction of law which had authorized this Institution to function as an Institution teaching Urdu and issuing Certificates and Degrees. The recognition of a Certificate or Degree being a valid qualification for an appointment is that the Institution issuing it should have legal sanction behind it. It may be either under the orders of the Central Government, State Government or the University Grants Commission. None of these three authorities have issued any sanction in favour of the Zamiya Urdu, Aligarh. Had it been there, the learned counsel for the petitioner-respondent would have placed it before the Court.
18. The best case of the petitioner-respondent before us is that the qualification was recognized by the State Government to be equivalent as shown in the letter dated 3rd February, 1965, quoted in the writ petition. Firstly, a Division Bench of this Court has not given credence to this Notification because the original Notification had not been placed either before us or before the Division Bench deciding the case of Jalaludin Silawat (supra). In any case, the qualification enumerated in that Notification are antiquated qualifications because now the qualification has undergone a sea change. It cannot be read to be equivalent to the present day qualifications. The State of Rajasthan had issued letters dated 24.4.1993 making it explicit that only those qualifications which are issued by the Institutions, which are the creation of law, can alone be recognized. Apart from this in this Notification dated 24.4.1993 it has been made clear that Zamiya Urdu, Aligarh is not an Institution established by law. Thus, the State of Rajasthan in its Notification dated 23.11.1991 had made it more than obvious that any qualification acquired by taking up examination held by Zamiya Urdu, Aligarh would not be a qualification which would be available for seeking to be appointed.
20.In the light of the matter, it is considered that the petitioner who has acquired Urdu qualifications issued by Zamiya Urdu, Aligarh, possesses a qualification which is not a qualification awarded by an Institution which had a legal sanction behind it, therefore, the same is not available for the purposes of employment in the State of Rajasthan.
Perusal of paras quoted above reveals that an institution is authorized to award educational qualification only if it possesses legal sanction behind it. In the case of Jamia Urdu Aligarh, the Division Bench came to the conclusion that said institution was not established by law. Thus, it has no right to confer educational qualification. If the case in hand is looked into, Council of Secondary Education, Mohali is not created by a statute. If the letter of the Government dated 24th April, 1993 quoted in above para is looked into, then also it becomes clear that an institution can award educational qualification only when it is established under the law or is a Board. The sanction can be attached even to an affiliated institution to the University or Board or to a deemed to be a University. The status of Council is not beyond registration under the Societies Registration Act, as nothing has placed on record to indicate that it has sanction of law to provide educational degrees. The letter at Annex.2 makes a reference of recognition of the Council by Jamia Urdu Aligarh ignoring the fact that even Jamia Urdu Aligarh is not an institution created by law.
It would be relevant to make a reference of Section 22 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956 to indicate as to who is authorized to confer degrees. Section 22 is quoted hereunder for ready reference:
22. Right to confer degrees.
(1)The right of conferring or granting degrees shall be exercised only by a University established or incorporated by or under a Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act or an institution deemed to be a University under section 3 or an institution specially empowered by an Act of Parliament to confer or grant degrees.
(2)Save as provided in sub- section (1), no person or authority shall confer, or grant, or hold himself or itself out as entitled to confer or grant, any degree.
(3) For the purposes of this section," degree" means any such degree as may, with the previous approval of the Central Government, be specified in this behalf by the Commission by notification in the Official Gazette.
Perusal of provisions quoted above reveals that a degree can be conferred by University established or incorporated by law under Central Act, a Provincial Act or a State Act or an institution deemed to be a University under Section 3 of UGC Act. It may be also if an institution is specially empowered by an Act of Parliament to grant degrees. The respondent Council at Mohali is not falling under Section 22 of UGC Act.
The fact further for consideration is as to whether Council can confer degrees at the level of schools, thus Section 22 of UGC Act may not apply to the present matter. In that case also, the statute by which State Board are constituted gets relevance. In all the States, like the State of Rajasthan, Board of Secondary Education have been created by statute so that all the schools get affiliated by the State Board of Secondary Education or by the Central Board of Education. An institution not affiliated to any of the Board created under the Act, has no authority to grant degrees. The respondent Council at Mohali is not created under the statute to reckon it to be State Board or even affiliated to any such Board. Thus, it has no sanction of law to confer educational qualification to the students.
The issue herein gets importance further taking note of the fact that education now a days has been taken as a business, which needs to be viewed seriously.
An institution can grant educational qualification but it should be strictly as per law. If it is an affiliated school to a State Board or if it is a university then falling under any of the category referred in Section 22 of UGC Act or an affiliated college. The issue raised herein is otherwise covered by the ratio propounded by the Division Bench in the case of Firdos Tarannum (supra). Thus, I am of the opinion that educational qualification obtained by the petitioner from Council of Secondary Education, Mohali cannot be considered to be recognized qualification so as to consider petitioner to be eligible for appointment to the post of Forest Guard. In fact, no significance can be attached to the educational qualification obtained by the petitioner from Council of Secondary Education, Mohali.
In view of discussion made above, I do not find any illegality in the action of respondents if petitioner is not given appointment to the post of Forest Guard.
The writ petition so as the stay application are dismissed accordingly.
(M.N. BHANDARI), J.
Preety/Jr.P.A. All corrections made in the judgment/order have been incorporated in the judgment/order being emailed.
Preety Asopa Jr.P.A