CWP No.14222 of 2010.doc - 1 – HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH **** CWP No.14222 of 2010 Date of Decision: 21.09.2010 **** Hira Lal & Ors. . . . . Petitioners VS. State of Punjab and others . . . . . Respondents **** CORAM : HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE SURYA KANT **** 1. Whether Reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? **** Present: Mr. Rajiv Dev Sharma, Advocate for the petitioners ***** SURYA KANT J. (1). The petitioners seek quashing of the enquiry report (Annexure P23) and the consequential orders dated 30.07.2010 (like Annexure P24) whereby their services as ETT Teachers have been terminated by the Zila Parishad, Gurdaspur. (2). The Government Primary Schools in the State of Punjab are presently run by the Zila Parishad who vide their advertisement dated 27.05.2006 published in the daily newspaper ‘Ajit’ invited applications for appointment of 9384 ETT Teachers in the Primary Schools in rural areas of Punjab. CWP No.14222 of 2010.doc - 2 – (3). The advertisement contained the following qualification:- Qualification: 10+2 or equivalent diploma as recognized by Punjab Govt. with ETT recognized by any State Education Board and equivalent course from defence services only. In case of non-availability of ETT candidates upto district level, the candidates with BA/B.Sc./B.Com plus B.Ed. (from any University recognized by UGC) will be considered; they will have to undergo orientation training of 6 months within 5 years of joining service. Candidate must have passed Punjabi in Matriculation, equivalent or higher. Applications without proof of having passed Punjabi as above will not be all those who submit certificates with Grades in place of marks must submit their marks equivalence from the issuing authority. Otherwise their application will not be received. (Detailed marks sheets or provisional degrees may be submitted in case degrees have not been received.) (4). The petitioners on the basis of their qualification of 10+2 along with the purported Diploma in Elementary Teachers Training Course passed out from Bharatiya Shiksha Parishad (UP) also applied and having been selected, were appointed by the Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad Gurdaspur, vide similar-worded appointment letters dated 22.03.2007 (Annexure P15). CWP No.14222 of 2010.doc - 3 – (5). On a verification done by Zila Parishad, it was found that the Institute from where the petitioners have passed out their ETT Course was not genuine and consequently vide order dated 30.07.2010, the Zila Parishad decided to terminate their services. (6). Several candidates including the petitioners approached this Court by way of CWP No.13897 of 2008 and other batch of writ petitions, which was finally disposed of by this Court vide order dated 10.02.2010 with the following direction:- xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx a. “The Zila Parishad, Gurdaspur shall constitute a Committee to be headed by its Chief Executive Officer; b. The Director Punjab Instructions (Elementary Education), Punjab is directed to depute one Officer from the Education Department as a Member of the said Committee. The Committee shall comprise of at least three members including the Chief Executive Officer. c. The Committee shall hold a fact-finding enquiry regarding the genuineness of the Elementary Teachers Training Course said to have been undertaken by the petitioners, in association with the petitioners. Suffice it to observe that the Committee shall issue a Public Notice in this regard and in response thereto the petitioners shall be at liberty to accompany the Members of the Committee to visit Lucknow and/or other places as may be required, to ascertain the genuineness of the said Course. d. The Committee shall be entitled to verify – CWP No.14222 of 2010.doc - 4 – i. Whether any Institute(s) like the Nehru National Institute of Technology & Management does exist or not? ii. Whether or not such Institute(s) is recognized by the Central Government and/or the State Government of Uttar Pradesh? iii. Whether the said Institute maintains any record regarding admission/students and classes and hold fair and genuine examinations. iv. Whether any of the petitioners actually completed the Elementary Teachers Training Course after attending regular classes and practical work etc.? After verification if the Committee is satisfied that the petitioners genuinely possess the Elementary Teachers Training Course Diploma from a duly recognized Institute(s) and they have actually undertaken the Course, their claim for reinstatement in service shall be reconsidered within 15 days of the receipt of such report of the Committee. The entire exercise shall be undertaken by the Committee preferably within a period of two months from the date of receipt of certified copy of this order. However, the respondents shall not re-instate the petitioners in service till the enquiry is held or any finding is arrived at in their (petitioners’) favour by the Committee.” xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx (7). Pursuant to the above-reproduced directions, a Team under the Chairmanship of the Chief Executive Officer, Zila Parishad Gurdaspur held the fact-finding enquiry and went into the issues like (i) The existence of the Institute; (ii) Whether the Institute was CWP No.14222 of 2010.doc - 5 – recognized by the Central Government or the State Government of Uttar Pradesh? (iii) Whether the Institute maintained any record regarding admission, attendance and a fair examination process? and (iv) Whether the petitioners actually completed their ETT Course after attending regular classes and practical work etc. or not? (8). The enquiry report reveals that the Bhartiya Shiksha Parishad, Lucknow is a society got registered by one Dr. Vijay Aggarwal under the Registration of Societies Act. The said Society applied to National Council for Teacher Education (NCET) for recognition of its BTC Diploma Course but its request was turned down. It went in appeal which was also dismissed by NCET, New Delhi. The Society challenged those decisions before the Allahabad High Court in the year 1997 and the matter is sub judice since then. (9). Based upon the fact-finding enquiry, the Zila Parishad has again terminated services of the petitioners, giving rise to this writ petition. (10). The fact-finding enquiry report submitted by the Committee is an eye-opener as to how fraudulent Institutes are thriving by offering misleading and CWP No.14222 of 2010.doc - 6 – misguided Training/Diploma Courses not at all recognized by any Authorized Body as on date. (11). Concededly there is no recognition to the BTC Diploma Course allegedly passed out by the petitioners by the NCERT/SCERT/State Government or the Central Government. Merely because the writ petition(s) filed by the Society is pending consideration before the Allahabad High Court, it cannot be said that the subsequent Diploma certificates issued by the Society are ‘valid’ or ‘recognised’. (12). A fortiori the Elementary Teacher is of paramount importance to the Society as ‘Primary education’ is the first step towards growth of a child. The children need to be entrusted in the well-trained hands for their proper shape and moulding. The appointment of unqualified and untrained persons as ‘Elementary Teachers’ would invite utter chaos and cause immense damage to the public interest and ruin our future generations. (13). No compromise with the quality of Elementary Education can be made on the grounds like ‘equity’ or ‘compassion’. CWP No.14222 of 2010.doc - 7 – (14). Dismissed. 21.09.2010 vishal shonkar (SURYA KANT) JUDGE