Mr. Ashok Kumar Poddar, Advocate v. NIDHI RANI AND ORS

Judgment

1. Respondents 1 to 10 in the present writ petition were the applicants before the Central Administrative Tribunal1 in OA 683/20232.

2. The Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti3 issued, on June-July 2022, an advertisement, inviting applications for various posts. The respondents applied for the post of Teacher in Art4. The essential and desirable 1 “the Tribunal” hereinafter 2 Nidhi Rani v Department of School Education & Literacy & others 3 “NVS” hereinafter 4 “Art Teacher” hereinafter WP(C) 60/2025 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:AJIT KUMAR Signing Date:30.01.2025 19:51:29 qualifications for the post of Art Teacher, as per the advertisement, were as under: Essential Qualifications “Four years Recognized Diploma in any discipline of Fine Arts as Drawing/Painting/Sculpture/Graphic Arts/Crafts after passing Senior Secondary Examination (Class XII or equivalent) OR Five years Recognized Diploma in any discipline of Fine Arts as Drawing/Painting/Sculpture/Graphic Arts/Crafts after passing Secondary Examination (Class X or equivalent) OR Degree in Fine Arts/Crafts from a recognized University OR B. Ed. Degree in Fine Arts from Regional College of Education. Desirable Qualifications “(i) B. Ed. Degree (ii) Working knowledge of English and Hindi or other Regional Language. (iii) Experience of Working in a residential School. (iv) Working knowledge of Computers.”

3. Despite successfully clearing the written test, the respondents were not allowed to participate in the interview for the post of Art Teacher, on the ground that they did not possess the prescribed Essential Qualifications. The educational qualifications of respondents were as under: WP(C) 60/2025 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:AJIT KUMAR Signing Date:30.01.2025 19:51:29 Respon- dent No 1 Name Nidhi Rani Bachelor of Arts Bachelors’ Degree Masters’ Degree Bachelor of Arts Master of Fine Arts MA (Drawing & Painting) B. Ed. MA (Drawing & Painting) Bachelor of Arts Master of Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of Science (Textile Design) Arts Master of Arts (Fine Arts) Reeta Sharma Rashmi Gangwar Vishal Jangid Kapil Kumar Kasana Savan Bachelor of Arts Master of Shreya Malviya Bachelor of Arts Arts (Visual Arts) MA (Drawing & Painting) Pratibha NEET Degree Bachelor of Arts Master of Arts (Fine Arts) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Durgesh Kumari Bachelor of Arts 10 Anu Rai Bachelor of Arts B. Ed. MA (Drawing & Painting) B. Ed. MA (Drawing & Painting) B. Ed.

4. Aggrieved thereby, the respondents approached the Tribunal. WP(C) 60/2025 Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:AJIT KUMAR Signing Date:30.01.2025 19:51:29

5. In the counter-affidavit filed before the Tribunal by way of response to the OA, the petitioner alleged that the respondents did not possess the requisite qualifications for appointment as Art Teacher.

6. The Tribunal, in the impugned judgement dated 6 August 2024, has framed the issue arising for consideration as “whether Bachelors’ Degree in Arts can be equated to that of “Degree in Fine Arts/Crafts” for the post of teacher in Art”, and also mooted the issue of the consequence of the respondents “having higher qualification of ‘Master’s Degree in Art”.

7. The impugned judgment of the Tribunal is, unfortunately, bereft of any modicum of independent reasoning. Having thus framed the issue arising for consideration in para 14 of its judgement, the Tribunal proceeds to reproduce paras 26 and 34 of the report in Anand Yadav v State of U.P.5 and para 37 of the report in Puneet Sharma v Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd6 in paras 15 and 16 and conclude thus, in para 17:

In view of above analysis and discussions, we dispose of “17. this OA with directions to the respondents to process the candidature of all applicants, including the degree holders who participated and were shortlisted for interview and depending on the relative merits, after holding interviews, proceed to issue the final selection list of all successful candidates. The interim order(s) is made absolute till final results of interview are declared and finalized. The above exercise be completed within period of three months from the date of this order. All pending applications, if any, are also disposed of.”