Allahabad High Court
Smt. Renu vs State Of U.P. And 3 Others on 6 March, 2025
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD Neutral Citation No. - 2025:AHC:32830-DB A.F.R. Chief Justice's Court Case :- SPECIAL APPEAL No. - 75 of 2025 Appellant :- Smt. Renu Respondent :- State of U.P. and 3 others Counsel for Appellant :- Vinay Kumar Singh Counsel for Respondent :- Adarsh Bhushan, Ankit Gaur (S.C.) Hon'ble Arun Bhansali, Chief Justice Hon'ble Kshitij Shailendra, J.
1. This appeal is directed against order dated 06.01.2025 passed by learned Single Judge, whereby the writ petition filed by the petitioner aggrieved of the order dated 03.05.2024 issued by the Secretary, U.P. State Medical Faculty, Lucknow by which the appellant was restrained from appearing in the final examination for the course of Auxiliary Nurse & Midwife / H.W. (Female) (New Syllabus) (for short 'A.N.M.) for the Session 2023-24 has been dismissed.
2. The appellant had passed the matriculation examination from Punjab School Education Board in 2010 and completed her Adeeb-e-Mahir from Jamia Urdu, Aligarh. An advertisement dated 13.05.2022 was published by the Director General (Training) Department of Medical Health and Family Welfare, Uttar Pradesh regarding two year training programme for the A.N.M. at various training centres throughout Uttar Pradesh. In the said advertisement/notice, along with other details, the eligibility criteria prescribed that the candidate should have passed Intermediate Exam (10 + 2) from U.P. Board of Secondary Education or equivalent Board.
3. The appellant applied for the two year training programme and claims to have filled out the application form as prescribed under the advertisement. The merit list was prepared and the appellant was selected. Whereafter she was admitted to the course for the Session 2023-24 and a training centre was allotted to her. However, during course of training on 08.05.2024, the appellant was served through respondent no.4 with a letter dated 03.05.2024 requiring the appellant to correct the particulars or the errors mentioned against her name by 10.05.2024, else she alongwith other candidates whose names appear in the said communication would not be allowed to appear in the examination. Against her name, the deficiency indicated was 'Board not valid'. It was then submitted in the petition that when the appellant approached the concerned officials, she was told that Adeeb-e-Mahir is not equivalent to Intermediate from U.P. Board of Secondary Education. The appellant claimed that the said stand of the respondents is contrary to the Government Orders dated 09.09.1983 and 13.09.1994 issued by the State Government and that Jamia Urdu, Aligarh was duly recognised and as such the denial of the appellant based on her qualification of Adeeb-e-Mahir was not justified. When the respondents did not accept the said plea, the writ petition was filed seeking to question the communication dated 03.05.2024. The respondents before the learned Single Judge relied on a Government Order dated 13.08.2013 to indicate that those who have obtained the certificate of Adeeb-e-Mahir subsequent to the year 1997 were not eligible to the equivalence with Intermediate and that the Government Order dated 17.08.2013 is not under challenge.
4. Learned Single Judge, by the order impugned, after perusing the Government Order dated 17.08.2013 enclosed with the supplementary counter affidavit, came to the conclusion that the appellant was not entitled to any relief and consequently, dismissed the writ petition.
5. Learned counsel for the appellant made submissions that dismissal of the writ petition by the learned Single Judge on account of the Government Order dated 17.08.2013, is not justified as the same were guidelines pertaining to appointment on the post of Assistant Teacher (Urdu) and had no application to the admission to A.N.M. training course and therefore, the order impugned deserves to be quashed and set aside.
6. Submissions were made that the Government Orders dated 09.09.1983 and 13.09.1994 clearly provide for equivalence of Adeeb-e-Mahir with the Intermediate (10+2) Examination and as Jamia Urdu is a recognised Board, the order dated 03.05.2024, holding the petitioner's candidature as invalid cannot be sustained. Reliance was placed on a Division Bench judgement of this Court in State of U.P. and 3 others Vs. Mohammad Ishtiaque Ansari Special Appeal Defective No. 268 of 2014 decided on 11.03.2014.
7. Learned counsel for the respondents supported the order impugned. Submissions were made that the reliance placed by the appellant on the Government Orders dated 09.09.1983 and 13.09.1994 is totally misplaced inasmuch as the same had no application to the equivalence of Adeeb-e-Mahir with that of Intermediate Examination, as the said Government Orders had very limited application pertaining to knowledge of Urdu and nothing more and, therefore, the plea raised in this regard has no substance. Further submissions have been made that the appellant had suppressed material facts while applying for the training course inasmuch as in the enrolment form, she indicated having passed her Intermediate Exam from U.P. Board of High School and Intermediate Education, Allahabad, which was factually incorrect as she was claiming equivalence based on her having passed Adeeb-e-Mahir from Jamia Urdu, Aligarh and, therefore, as her claim in the enrolment form did not match with her marksheets, in the communication dated 03.05.2024, it was rightly indicated 'Board not valid' which necessarily meant that the indication made in the enrolment form did not match with her marksheets.
8. Submissions have been made that even if the Government Order dated 17.08.2013 has no application to the training as A.N.M., the equivalence sought through the two Government Orders of 1983 and 1994 has no basis and as such, the appellant being not qualified, the appeal deserves dismissal.
9. We have considered the submissions made by counsel for the parties and have perused the material available on record.
10. The advertisement dated 13.05.2022 (Annexure-3) inter alia indicated the educational qualification as under:-
"ek/;fed f'k{kk ifj"kn] mRrj izns'k vFkok led{k cksMZ dh b.VjehfM,V ijh{kk ¼10+2½ mRrh.kZ dh gksA"
11. A perusal of the above would reveal that the candidate was required to have passed Intermediate Examination (10+2) from U.P. Board of Secondary Education or equivalent Board. The appellant filled up the enrolment form (Annexure-5) by indicating her Intermediate Board as 'U.P. Board of High School and Intermediate Education, Allahabad'. Admittedly, the said indication made was factually incorrect as the appellant had not passed the Intermediate Examination conducted by the U.P. Board of High School and Intermediate Education. Instead the appellant relied on having passed Adeeb-e-Mahir from Jamia Urdu, Aligarh in the year 2018. It is apparent that the declaration made in the enrolment form was factually incorrect and, therefore, the respondents were justified in indicating the deficiency in its communication dated 03.05.2024 with 'Board not valid' and as the Board declared by the appellant in the enrolment form did not match with her marksheet and, therefore, no exception can be taken to the issuance of the communication dated 03.05.2024 on the said count.
12. The submission made that as Adeeb-e-Mahir has been declared as equivalent to the Intermediate Examination by Government Orders of 1983 and 1994, the respondents were bound to hold the appellant as eligible and permit her to appear in the examination and continue with her training, also apparently has no substance. The relevant part of the Government Order dated 09.09.1983 reads as under:-
" eq>s ;g dgus dk funs'k gqvk gS fd jkT;iky egksn; tkfe;k mnZw] vyhx<+ }kjk iznRr fuEufyf[kr ijh{kkvksa dks muds lEeq[k vaafdr fLFkfr ds vuqlkj jkT;k/khu lsokvksa esa lh/kh HkrhZ ds iz;kstuksa ds fy, ekU;rk fn;s tkus dh Lohd`fr lg"kZ iznku djrs gSaA izek.k&i= dk uke ekU;rk dk Lo:i 1& vnhc 2&vnhc&,&ekfgj ftu inksa ij gkbZ Ldwy@eSVz~hdqys'ku Lrj dk mnwZ dk Kku vko';d gks] mu ij fu;qDr ds iz;kstuksa ds fy, ekU;rkA ,sls inksa ij fu;qfDr ds iz;kstuksa ds fy, ekU;rk ftu ij b.VjehfM,V Lrj dk mnwZ dk Kku vko';d gksA Hkonh;
cky d`".k prqosZnh] "
13. A perusal of the above Government Order indicates that permission has been granted for recognising Adeeb-e-Mahir for appointment to the post on which knowledge of Urdu of Intermediate level is necessary. The recognition was confined to such posts where the requirement of knowledge of Urdu of Intermediate level is necessary. The said Government Order cannot be read as having provided for equivalence of Adeeb-e-Mahir to Intermediate Examinations for all purposes.
14. Similarly, the Government Order dated 13.09.1994 provided that Adeeb-e-Kamil from Jamia Urdu, Aligarh was being recognised alongwith Adeeb-e-Mahir for appointment to the post of Assistant Teachers for teaching Urdu language and the same be treated as equivalent to Intermediate with Urdu subject / B.A. Urdu. The limited equivalence granted was confined to the Urdu language and that also limited to the qualification pertaining to knowledge of Urdu language at Intermediate level and not equivalent to Intermediate for all purposes.
15. The reliance placed on the Division Bench judgement in the case of Mohammad Ishtiaque Ansari (supra) is also misplaced, as the said judgement pertains to eligibility for the post of 'Urdu Translator-cum-Junior Clerk' wherein the requirement was having passed the Intermediate Examination with Urdu as one of the subject of the Board of High School and, therefore, the said judgement would have no application to the case in hand where the knowledge of Urdu is not one of the parameters for seeking admission to the training.
16. In view of the above fact situation, though there may be some substance in the submissions made by counsel for the appellant that the Government Order dated 17.08.2013 related to appointment to the post of Assistant Teacher for teaching Urdu, the same had no application to the present notification/advertisement, the fact of the matter is that even for appointment on the post of Assistant Teacher for Urdu language, the equivalence as provided in the Government Orders of 1983 and 1994 has been confined to those who have obtained the same prior to 11.08.1997 and even for those posts, now those who have obtained the degree after 1997 are not eligible.
17. Be that as it may, in view of the discussions made hereinbefore, it cannot be accepted that the Adeeb-e-Mahir from Jamia Urdu, Aligarh is equivalent to Intermediate (10+2) of U.P. Board of Secondary Education or equivalent Board and as such, the dismissal of the writ petition by the learned Single Judge cannot be faulted.
18. The appeal has no substance, the same is, therefore, dismissed.
Order Date :- 6.3.2025
SL
(Kshitij Shailendra, J) (Arun Bhansali, CJ)