Shiv Kumar Mishra … v. 1. The State of Jharkhand, through the Principal Secretary, Department of School Education and
Case Details
1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JHARKHAND AT RANCHI W.P.(S) No. 3219 of 2021 Shiv Kumar Mishra ….. Petitioner Versus 1. The State of Jharkhand, through the Principal Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ranchi 2. The Director, Secondary Education, Government of Jharkhand, Ranchi 3. The Secretary, Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission, Ranchi 4. The Examination Controller, Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission, Ranchi ….. Respondents ----- CORAM HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH SHANKAR ----- Mr. Sanajay Kr. Saraswat For the Petitioner: For the Respondents: ----- 06/20.03.2024 The present writ petition has been filed for quashing the order as contained in letter No. 4 Pariksha-12-79/2016 Aa 4043 dated 30.07.2019 (Annexure-01 to the writ petition) issued by the respondent No.4 whereby the petitioner’s result for appointment on the post of ‘Hindi’ teacher has been withheld on the ground that he has passed ‘Shastri’ examination which is not equivalent to Graduation Degree. The petitioner has also made other related prayers. 2. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner possesses educational qualification of ‘Shastri’ (B.A) which is equivalent to Graduation Degree obtained from Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi, which is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Human Resources Development Department, Government of India and has been recognized by the University Grant Commission, New Delhi. He has also obtained B.Ed. Degree from Sampurnand Sanskirt University, Varanasi. 3. The Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission (JSSC) issued Advisement No. 21/2016 being Combined Graduate Trained Teacher Competitive Examination, 2016 for appointment of the Trained Graduate Teachers (TGTs) for various subjects. In the said advertisement, apart from district-wise vacancies, the prescribed basic educational qualification was Graduation Degree with minimum 45% marks (40% marks for S.C/S.T candidates) in the concerned subject as 2 well as B.Ed. Degree recognized by the National Council for Teacher Education, New Delhi. 4. The petitioner submitted online application from Palamau district for TGT in ‘Hindi’ subject. After initial verification of educational qualification, the JSSC issued admit card to the petitioner being Roll No. 14152154244, pursuant to which, he appeared in the said examination. After completion of the examination, the result of the written examination was published for Palamau district in which the petitioner was shown to have passed under the heading ‘Hindi-Direct Recruitment’. Thereafter, on the direction of the JSSC, he submitted his educational certificates which were uploaded in the website of the JSSC at the time of filing of the online application. After verification of the documents, the revised/final result was published by the JSSC on 05.08.2019 in which remarks was given ‘result for one vacancy is kept pending’ which suggested that the roll number of the petitioner was missing in the revised result. 5. Subsequently, the petitioner received an information from the respondent No.4 vide the impugned letter dated 30.07.2019 stating that he had submitted the certificate of ‘Shastri’ in place of Graduation certificate, which was not as per the condition stipulated in Sl. No. 01 of Clause-4 of the said advertisement. Since the petitioner had duly submitted the Graduation certificate of ‘Shastri’ as
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well as B.Ed. Degree, he has challenged the said letter in the present writ petition. 6. It is also submitted that the impugned letter dated 30.07.2019 issued by the respondent No.4 is wholly unwarranted as the petitioner has qualified the written examination and also possesses the requisite qualification i.e. the Graduation certificate as well as the B.Ed. Degree as per the said advertisement. 7. A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the respondent Nos. 3 & 4 stating inter alia that during certificate verification, the petitioner submitted Graduation certificate and mark-sheet of ‘Shastri’ (Bachelor of Arts) issued by Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi. Accordingly, a show cause notice was 3 issued to him in this regard. Even after issuance of the show cause notice, the petitioner did not submit any valid certificate in support of his candidature i.e. Graduation Degree in ‘Hindi’ subject for which he had applied, rather he claimed that his Degree of ‘Shastri’ (Bachelor of Arts) was equivalent to Graduation Degee. As per Clause 16.2 of the prospectus of the said advertisement, the candidates would be solely responsible for the entries and information given in
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the online application forms. It was further mentioned in Clause 16.4(K)(ii) that the candidature of a candidate was liable to be cancelled in case of non- fulfilment of educational criteria. So far as the petitioner’s claim that ‘Shastri’ (Bachelor of Arts) is equivalent to Graduation Degree is concerned, it has nowhere been mentioned in the ‘’Jharkhand Sarkari Maadhyamik Vidyaalay Shikshak Evam Shikshakettar Niyukti Evem Sewa Shart Rules, 2015’’ that for Bachelor Degree, any equivalent Degree would be considered. 8. It has been further stated that as per notification No. 5938 dated 14.07.2016 issued by the Department of Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha, Government of Jharkhand, only local residents of districts, namely, Sahebganj, Dumka, Jamtara, Latehar, Ranchi, Khunti, Gumla, Lohardaga, Simdega, East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Saraikella-Kharsawan were eligible for appointment in Group-III and Group-IV posts of the district cadre in various departments of the concerned districts for a period of 10 years from the date of issuance of the said notification. 9. After commencement of the selection process for appointment of Trained Graduate Teacher in various subjects pursuant to Advertisement No. 21/2016, notification No. 5938 dated 14.07.2016 issued by the Department of Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Rajbhasha, Government of Jharkhand was challenged before this Court by filing several writ petitions being W.P.(C) No. 1387 of 2017 [Soni Kumari & Ors. Vs. State of Jharkhand & Ors.] and other analogous cases and vide judgment dated 21.09.2020 passed in the said cases, the Full Bench of this Court quashed the appointments made in the scheduled districts which was subsequently challenged by the appointed candidates of the 4 scheduled districts before the Hon’ble Supreme Court by filing Civil Appeal No. 4038 of 2022 and other analogous appeals. The said civil appeals were finally
Decision
disposed of vide judgment dated 02.08.2022. 10. The JSSC started the process to prepare the revised state-wise merit list in terms with the judgment rendered in the aforesaid appeals i.e. Satyajit Kumar & Ors. Vs. State of Jharkhand & Ors. reported in (2022) SCC OnLine SC 954 and the orders dated 02.12.2022 & 15.12.2022 passed in Contempt Petition (C) No. 612/2020 arising out of Civil Appeal No. 4044 of 2022 (Soni Kumari & Ors. Vs. K. Ravi Kumar & Ors.) and other analogous contempt applications. 11. It has lastly been stated that as per the prospectus of the said advertisement, the candidate must have the B.A Degree in the subject in which he/she seeks consideration of his/her candidature. The petitioner had applied for the post of TGT in ‘Hindi’ subject and as such he was required to submit the Graduation Degree in ‘Hindi’ subject along with B.Ed. Degree. Since he failed to submit the Graduation Degree in ‘Hindi’ subject for the post of TGT in ‘Hindi’ subject, his candidature has rightly been rejected. 12. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the relevant materials available on record. As per Sl. No. 01 of Clause 04 of Advertisement No. 21/2016, the candidates were required to possess Graduation Degree with minimum 45% marks in the subject he/she sought appointment (40% marks for S.C/S.T candidates) along with B.Ed. Degree issued from a recognized training institute or Degree equivalent to B.Ed. declared by the National Council for Teacher Education, New Delhi. 13. The present issue is no more res-integra as learned Division Bench of this Court vide order dated 10.05.2018 passed in L.P.A. No. 403/2016 (Deokant Sriniwas & Anr. Vs. The State of Jharkhand & Ors.) has already held that if any candidate has applied for the post of TGT in a particular subject, he/she should have the Graduation Degree in that particular subject as a main subject. Relying on the said order passed by learned Division Bench, this Court has 5 dismissed similar writ petitions being W.P.(S) No. 1897 of 2019 [Vipasha Pandey Vs. The State of Jharkhand & Ors.] and W.P.(S) No. 2291 of 2019 [Harihar Kumar Vs. The State of Jharkhand & Ors.] in which the petitioners of the said cases had applied for the post of TGT in the subject ‘Hindi’, however, they had failed to produce the Graduation Degree in the subject ‘Hindi’ as main subject, rather they had produced Graduation Degree having “Psychology” and ‘’History’’ respectively as main subject and ‘Hindi’ as the compulsory subject of ‘Language and Literature’. 14. In the present case, the petitioner had applied for the post of TGT in the subject ‘Hindi’, however, he produced ‘Shastri’ Degree granted by Sampoornanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi. Even if it is assumed that the said Degree is to be treated as a Degree in ‘Sanskrit’ subject, since the petitioner had applied for the post of TGT in ‘Hindi’ subject, the said Degree produced by the petitioner could not have been accepted. 15. Another writ petition i.e. Pawan Kumar Tiwari Vs. The State of Jharkhand & Anr. [W.P.(S) No. 3612/2019] involving similar issue fell for consideration before this Court, was dismissed vide order dated 29.02.2024. Hence, the present case being similar to that of Pawan Kumar Tiwari (Supra) also deserves to be dismissed. 16. The present writ petition being devoid of merit is accordingly dismissed. Satish/- (RAJESH SHANKAR, J)