Jharkhand High Court
Rajeev Gandhi Memorial Teachers' ... vs The State Of Jharkhand on 4 August, 2022
Author: Rajesh Shankar
Bench: Rajesh Shankar
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI
W.P.(C) No. 2392 of 2022
1. Rajeev Gandhi Memorial Teachers' Training College, Digwadih,
Dhanbad through its Secretary - Ram Nath Choubey
2. Al-Iqra Teachers' Training College, Govindpur, Dhanbad through its
Secretary - Saifullah Khalid
3. Swami Ramkrishna Pramhansh Teachers' Training College, Dugdha,
Bokaro through its Secretary - Shankar Prasad Swarnkar
4. Al-Habeeb Teachers' Training College, Secotor-6, Bokaro Steel City,
Bokaro through its Secretary - Shadab Raees Khan
5. Shamshul Haque Memorial Teachers' Training College, Ambona,
Nirsa, Dhanbad through its Secretary - Khurshida Khatoon Mallick
6. Tathagat Teachers' Training College, Barwadda, Dhanbad through
its Secretary - Arun Kumar Verma
7. K.K. Teachers' Training College, Govindpur, Dhanbad through its
Principal - Chandan Kumar Singh
8. Taiyab Memorial Teachers' Training College, Govindpur, Dhanbad
through its Managing Director - Abdus Samad
9. N.P. Teachers' Training College, Chira Chas, Bokaro through its
Secretary - Pramod Singh ... ... Petitioners
Versus
1. The State of Jharkhand
2. The Principal Secretary, Higher, Technical Education & Skill
Development, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi
3. The Director, Higher, Technical Education & Skill Development,
Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi
4. The Principal Secretary to the Hon'ble Governor-cum-Chancellor,
Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi
5. Jharkhand Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board
(JCECEB), through its Examination Controller, Ranchi
6. Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University, through its Registrar,
Dhanbad ... ... Respondents
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH SHANKAR
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For the Petitioners : Mr. Navin Kumar, Advocate Ms. Sweta Kumari, Advocate Mr. Nitish Krishna, Advocate For the Respondent Nos.1 to 3: Mr. Sachin Kumar, AAG-II Mrs. Surabhi, AC to AAG-II Mr. Deepak Kr Dubey, AC to AAG-II For the Respondent No. 5 : Mr. A.K. Mehta, Advocate
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Order No. 07 Dated: 04.08.2022 The present writ petition has been preferred for issuance of direction upon the respondent-authorities particularly the respondent nos. 2, 4 & 5 to allow the petitioners - B.Ed Institutes/Teachers Training Colleges to take admission of already 2 registered students with Jharkhand Combined Entrance Competitive Examination Board (hereinafter referred to as "JCECEB") in the B.Ed courses for the batch/session 2021-2023, who have passed their qualifying exams i.e., Bachelor's Degree in the applicable subjects after 27.09.2021 till 17.05.2022, otherwise the said students despite being eligible for getting admitted in the B.Ed course will lose one year without any fault on their part. The petitioners have further prayed for allowing those eligible students also to be admitted in the said course who have not been able to register themselves in pursuance of advertisement notice dated 03.09.2020 issued by respondent no. 5 - JCECEB.
2. Mr. Navin Kumar, the learned counsel for the petitioners, submits that that the petitioners are self financed B.Ed colleges/Teachers Training Colleges and have been granted permanent recognition by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) for conducting B.Ed course. The NCTE has framed National Council for Teacher Education (Recognition Norms & Procedure) Regulations, 2014 (hereinafter referred to as "Regulations 2014") prescribing the norms and standards for Bachelor of Education programme leading to grant of the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) Degree in which under regulation 3.3 (Admission Procedure), it has been provided that the admission shall be taken on merit on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying examination and/or in the entrance examination or by any other selection process as per the policy of the State Government/UT Administration and the University. In absence of any policy made by the State Government or the University, the petitioners-colleges were conducting selection process based on merit as per marks obtained in the qualifying examination and accordingly, the students were being admitted in the Institutes/Colleges.
3. It is further submitted that the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of "College of Professional Education & Ors. Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors." reported in (2013) 2 SCC 721 has fixed the schedule for admission in B.Ed course for the Academic Session 2012-2013 and subsequent years. Moreover, the Hon'ble Supreme 3 Court in the case of "Maa Vaishno Devi Mahila Mahavidyalaya Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors." reported in (2013) 2 SCC 617 has also adopted and reiterated the schedule fixed in the case of "College of Professional Education" (supra) and has further issued a direction as contained in paragraph 87.4 that the schedule prescribed for recognition and affiliation shall be mandatory for any authority/person/council/ committee and any non-compliance would amount to violating the order of Hon'ble Supreme Court.
4. It is further submitted that due to outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the Department of Higher & Technical Education, Government of Jharkhand vide letter no. 799 dated 15.07.2021 decided to prepare merit list for admission in recognized B.Ed colleges for the Session 2021-2023 purely on the basis of marks obtained by the students in qualifying exam i.e., Bachelor's Degree in the applicable subjects with qualifying marks and JCECEB was authorized to prepare the merit list on the aforesaid basis without taking any examination. It was also mentioned in the said letter that the appearing batch students of final year/semester of Bachelor degree qualifying examination would also be allowed to apply for the Session 2021-2023, but at the time of preparation of state level merit list, appearing batch students would upload marksheet of Bachelor degree with minimum qualifying marks. Pursuant to the said decision, online applications were invited from eligible students for admission in Government/Government Aided/Unaided/Self-financed and Private recognized B.Ed institutions for the Session 2021-2023. Clause-4 of the said advertisement stipulated that appearing batch students could also apply online by paying requisite application fee as mentioned in Clause-7 of the advertisement, subject to uploading their graduation marks/result till 27.09.2021 (i.e., the last date of submitting the online application), failing which their names would not be included in the final state merit list. It is further submitted that before preparation of final state merit list, JCECEB vide advertisement no. JCECEB/28/21- 40 Ranchi dated 08.10.2021 issued a public notice providing time schedule for first round online counselling for B.Ed course - 2021 and as per the said time schedule, the admissions were 4 to be completed by 30.10.2021 after publication of final state merit list for 1st round of online counselling on 14.10.2021. One of the petitioners-colleges represented the competent authority of the State Government requesting to get the qualifying examination result cleared at the earliest and further to allow the eligible students to be included in the admission process starting from 25.10.2021. After completion of first round of online interview/counselling, most of the seats in the colleges remained vacant, therefore, JCECEB, vide advertisement no. JCECEB/28/21-50/Ranchi dated 03.11.2021, notified second round of online interview/counselling for those students who had not appeared in first round of counselling or could not get the desired college or could not be allotted any of the colleges in the first round of counselling and the last date of admission was fixed as 04.12.2021. Similarly, after completion of 2nd round of online interview/counselling most of the seats in the colleges remained vacant. Therefore, JCECEB, vide advertisement no. JCECEB/28/21-70/Ranchi dated 27.12.2021, notified 3rd round of online interview/counselling for those students who had not appeared in 2nd counselling or could not get desired college in the 2nd round of counselling and the last date of admission was fixed as 22.01.2022. Though, JCECEB in the 2nd & 3rd round of counselling provided option of editing the application forms by the registered candidates which resulted in constant change of merit list by the JCECEB, but the successful candidates of Bachelor Degree Qualifying Exam after 27.09.2021 were not allowed to upload their mark-sheet of Bachelor degree. After completion of 3rd round of online interview/counselling, the seats in the colleges still remained vacant, therefore, JCECEB, vide advertisement no. JCECEB/28/21- 168 Ranchi dated 11.03.2022, notified 4th round of online interview/counselling for those students who had not appeared in 3rd counselling or could not get desired college in the 3rd round of counselling and the last date of admission was fixed as 19.03.2022. The Department of Higher & Technical Education, Government of Jharkhand vide letter no. 555 dated 28.04.2022 directed the Examination Controller, JCECEB, Ranchi to complete the process of filling-up the left over seats after 4th round of 5 counselling through the B.Ed colleges in the manner as provided in the said letter, but this time also, JCECEB was directed to consider only those registered students who had passed their Bachelors qualifying examination till 27.09.2021 and not thereafter as was done in all 4 rounds of counselling. Pursuant to the said direction issued by the Government of Jharkhand, JCECEB vide advertisement no. JCECEB 28/21-39 Ranchi dated 29.04.2022 issued notice for filling-up the vacant seats latest by 17.05.2022 through open method i.e., directly through the concerned B.Ed colleges, but on the basis of complete merit list (CML) prepared by JCECEB on 14.10.2021.
5. It is also submitted that even after open round of admissions allowed by JCECEB vide advertisement dated 29.04.2022, about 30% of the seats in the petitioners-colleges remained vacant for the reason that cut-off date of 27.09.2021 for passing the Bachelor Qualifying Examination was not relaxed either by the Government or JCECEB. Though the admissions for B.Ed courses of Session 2021-23 continued up to 17.05.2022, the students who have passed their Bachelor Qualifying Examination with requisite marks after 27.09.2021 are not been allowed to take admission either through counselling or through open admission due to which a large number of students are deprived of taking admission in the B.Ed courses for the reasons best known to them. After conclusion of open round of admissions on 17.05.2002 and since large number of seats remained vacant in almost all the B.Ed colleges including the petitioner-colleges, they made representation to all concerned authorities on 18.05.2022 with a request that those students who cleared the qualifying exam with requisite marks satisfying eligibility criteria during the intervening period i.e., from 27.09.2021 till 17.05.2022, may be allowed to be admitted. It is also submitted that petitioners-colleges are being flooded with queries of the students who have cleared/passed Bachelor Examination during the period of counselling, but were not permitted to participate in the counselling process in absence of publication of their result by the respective universities till 27.09.2021. The action of the respondent-authorities in not allowing the students to be admitted in the B.Ed course who 6 have passed their Qualifying Bachelor Examinations after 27.09.2021 till 17.05.2022 is nothing but colourable exercise of power and the same is also arbitrary and without jurisdiction. The State Government cannot discriminate the students desirous of pursuing B.Ed courses as against those who want to pursue engineering/diploma/ management courses in the State of Jharkhand for no valid reasons. The petitioners-B.Ed colleges cannot be compelled to run their courses with vacant seats by not permitting the eligible students to take admission. Since Session of 2018-21 in all the major universities of the State of Jharkhand is running late, the petitioners-colleges may be granted opportunity to take admission of those students so as to save their precious one year. The petitioners are ready to take extra classes as per the norms fixed by NCTE for which they have necessary infrastructure.
6. The learned counsel for the respondent No. 5 submits that JCECEB has prepared Common Merit List (CML) based on Advertisement No. JCECEB/28/21-30 dated 03.09.2020. Altogether 4 rounds of counselling have been held and the students have already been admitted in different B.Ed colleges as per the CML rank. The State Government has not extended the date any further after 17.05.2022 and has also not relaxed the condition that a candidate whose name does not figure in CML for any reason whatsoever, would be eligible to take admission. Therefore, the B.Ed colleges cannot be allowed to take admission of those students whose names do not figure in CML.
7. Learned AAG-II appearing for the respondent nos. 1 to 3 submits that as per the advertisement dated 03.09.2020, appearing batch students were also permitted to apply online, however, subject to uploading of their final marks/result of qualifying examination till 27.09.2021, failing which their names were not be included in the final merit list. Accordingly, the cut-off date for appearing batch students was fixed as 27.09.2021 and those candidates who qualified (obtained bachelor degree) after 27.09.2021 were not allowed to upload their marksheet of Bachelor degree. If the cut-off date is changed from 27.09.2021, the same will completely change the CML 7 and will even affect the candidates who have been allotted the colleges and have already taken admission. Any change in the cut-off date will also delay the admission scheduled for the next session i.e., 2022-24.
8. Heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the materials available on record. The petitioners seek direction of this Court to allow them to take admission of all those students who got registered with JCECEB in the B.Ed course for Session 2021-23 and have passed their qualifying examination after 27.09.2021 till 17.05.2022.
9. The thrust of the argument of learned counsel for the petitioners is that the sessions of many colleges were late owing to Covid-19 pandemic due to which the appearing batch students who got registered in B.Ed courses for Session 2021-23 could not pass their qualifying examination (Bachelor degree course) within time. Claim of the petitioners is that seats for Session 2021-23 are lying vacant and if the appearing batch students are allowed to be admitted in B.Ed course, they would arrange extra classes for them.
10. Per contra, according to learned AAG-II and learned counsel for the respondent no. 5, it was explicitly stipulated in the advertisement itself that the appearing batch students would upload their final marks/result of qualifying examination (Bachelor degree course) till 27.09.2021, failing which their names would not be included in the final merit list. In view of the clear stipulation in the advertisement, the petitioners' prayer made in the writ petition is not worth consideration.
11. Before coming to the merit of rival contentions of the parties, it would be relevant to refer the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court rendered in the case of "College of Professional Education" (supra), wherein the schedule for taking admission in the B.Ed course for the academic Session 2012-2013 and subsequent years has been fixed, which is reproduced as under:
1. Publication of advertisement 1-2-2011 8
2. Sale of application forms and their 10-2-2012 to 10-3-2012 submission
3. Date of entrance examination 20-4-2012 to 25-4-2012
4. Declaration of result 25-05-2012 to 30-5-2012
5. Commencement and completion of 1-6-2012 to 25-6-2012 counselling
6. Last date of admissions after 28-6-2012 counselling
7. Commencement of academic 1-7-2012 session
12. The schedule provided in "College of Professional Education" (supra) for taking admission in B.Ed courses was again considered and adopted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of "Maa Vaishno Devi Mahila Mahavidyalaya" (supra) further observing as under:
81. Lastly, the question which is required to be discussed in the light of the facts of the present cases is adherence to the schedule. Once the relevant schedules have been prescribed under the Regulations or under the Judge-made law, none, whosoever it be, is entitled to carve out exceptions to the prescribed schedule. Adherence to the schedule is the essence of granting admission in a fair and transparent manner as well as to maintain the standards of education. The purpose of providing a time schedule is to ensure that all authorities concerned act within the stipulated time. Where, on the one hand, it places an obligation upon the authorities to act according to the schedule, there it also provides complete clarity to other stakeholders as to when their application would either be accepted and/or rejected and what will be the time duration for it to be processed at different quarters. It also gives clear understanding to the students for whose benefit the entire process is set up as to when their examinations would be held, when results would be declared and when they are expected to take admission to different colleges in order of merit obtained by them in the entrance examinations or other processes for the purposes of subject and college preference.
82. We are constrained to reiterate with emphasis at our command that the prescribed schedules under the Regulations and the judgments must be strictly adhered to without exceptions. None in the hierarchy of the State Government, university, NCTE or any other authority or body involved in this process can breach the schedule for any direct or indirect reason.
Anybody who is found to be defaulting in this behalf is bound to render himself or herself liable for initiation of proceedings under the provisions of the Contempt 9 of Courts Act, 1971 as well as for a disciplinary action in accordance with the orders of the Court. In Parshavanath Charitable Trust v. All India Council for Technical Education [(2013) 3 SCC 385] , decided on the same date, this Court held as under: (SCC para
26) "26. ... Time schedule is one such condition specifically prescribed for admission to the colleges. Adherence to admission schedule is again a subject which requires strict conformity by all concerned, without exception. Reference in this regard can be made to Rajan Purohit v. Rajasthan University of Health Sciences [(2012) 10 SCC 770] at this stage, in addition to Medical Council of India v. Madhu Singh [(2002) 7 SCC 258]."
83. Undoubtedly, adherence to the schedule achieves the object of the Act and its various aspects.
Disobedience results in unfair admissions, not commencing the courses within the stipulated time and causing serious prejudice to the students of higher merit resulting in defeating the rule of merit.
84. We may very clearly state here that we adopt and reiterate the schedule stated by this Court in College of Professional Education [(2013) 2 SCC 721] in relation to admission as well as recognition and affiliation. This obviously includes the commencement of the courses in time. However, in order to avoid the possibility of any ambiguity, we propose to state the schedule for recognition and affiliation in terms of the NCTE Regulations, 2009 and the judgment of this Court in College of Professional Education [(2013) 2 SCC 721] .
87.4. We make it clear that no Authority/person/Council/Committee shall be entitled to vary the Schedule for any reason whatsoever. Any non-compliance shall amount to violating the orders of the Court.
13. Thus, for taking admission in the B.Ed College/Teacher Training College, the time schedule fixed in the above cases was required to be strictly followed, any deviation from which was not permissible.
14. In the case in hand, the Common Admission Competitive Examination - 2021 for admission in the Session 2021-23 was not conducted within the time frame as laid down in "Maa Vaishno Devi Mahila Mahavidyalaya" (supra) due to Covid-19 pandemic and thereafter it was decided by the Department of Higher and Technical Education, Government of Jharkhand that the admission for 10 Session 2021-23 would be taken on the basis of marks obtained in Bachelor Degree Examination with qualifying marks in the applicable subject. It was further decided that the appearing students would also be entitled to fill up the form, however, they would have to upload their marksheet of Bachelor degree at the time of preparation of merit list. Thereafter, the advertisement for admission in Session 2021-23 was published and online applications were invited from the eligible candidates. It was specifically mentioned in the said advisement under column-4 that the appearing batch students of graduation course should upload their marksheet till 27.09.2021, failing which they would not be included in the merit list. The admission for Session 2021-23 was taken till 17.05.2022, however, I am not going into the justification of the said decision of the respondent-authorities in relaxing the time schedule since the same is not in question before this Court.
15. Contention of the petitioners is that since the seats are still vacant, they may be allowed to take admission of appearing batch students of final semester/year of Bachelor degree who had registered for Session 2021-23, but their results could not be published within the stipulated time i.e., 27.09.2021. I am of the view that since the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of "College of Professional Education" (supra) has fixed the timeline for taking admission in B.Ed colleges and the same was subsequently adopted in "Maa Vaishno Devi Mahila Mahavidyalaya" (supra) with a further direction that the said timeline has to be strictly followed while taking admission in B.Ed colleges, the petitioners' prayer made in the writ petition cannot be acceded to. Moreover, the advertisement itself was in an unambiguous language mentioning that the appearing batch students could also apply online, however, subject to uploading of their final marks/result of qualifying examination till 27.09.2021, failing which their names would not be included in the final merit list. Thus, the appearing batch candidates can have no legitimate expectation to claim for admission in B.Ed courses in Session 2021-23 as undisputedly, they have failed to upload their result within the said stipulated time. Curiously enough, 11 none of the aggrieved students has come forward to claim their right of admission pursuant to registration in B.Ed courses for Session 2021-23, rather the petitioners who are B.Ed/Teacher Training colleges have approached this Court purportedly espousing the cause of students which cannot be entertained since the present writ petition has not been filed in the form of PIL.
16. One of the arguments of learned counsel for the petitioners is that since the petitioners are compelled to run their colleges with vacant seats, they will suffer financial loss. I do not find any substance in the said argument since the timeline fixed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of "College of Professional Education" (supra) subsequently adopted in the case of "Maa Vaishno Devi Mahila Mahavidyalaya" (supra) cannot be deviated from on mere ground of financial losses to be suffered by B.Ed/Teacher Training Colleges. In the case of "Maa Vaishno Devi Mahila Mahavidyalaya" (supra), Their Lordships have held that adherence to the schedule is the essence of granting admission in a fair and transparent manner as well as to maintain the standards of education. Moreover, the State has already deviated once from the aforesaid schedule fixed by the Hon'ble Apex Court owing to Covid-19 pandemic.
17. Considering the facts and circumstances of this case, I am not inclined to entertain the petitioners' prayer made in the writ petition and the same being devoid of merit is accordingly dismissed.
(Rajesh Shankar, J.) Manish/AFR