- (1.) The controversy which is involved in the special appeals turns upon the guidelines which were framed by the National Council for Teacher Education(NCTE) in regard to the Teacher Eligibility Test under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009(Act of 2009). By a notification dated 23 August 2010 issued in exercise of the provisions of Section 23 (1) of the Act of 2009, NCTE laid down the minimum qualifications for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher for classes 1 to 8. Among the qualifications which were prescribed, is a pass in the Teacher Eligibility Test(TET) to be conducted by the appropriate Government in accordance with the guidelines framed by NCTE for the purpose.
(2.) On 11 February 2011, NCTE circulated its guidelines to the State Governments. Insofar as is material, the guidelines made the following provision for qualifying marks in the TET: "Qualifying marks 9. A person who scores 60% or more in the TET exam will be considered as TET pass. School managements (Government, local bodies, government aided and unaided) (a) may consider giving concessions to persons belonging to SC/ST, OBC, differently abled persons, etc., in accordance with their extant reservation policy; (b) should give weightage to the TET scores in the recruitment process; however, qualifying the TET would not confer a right on any person for recruitment/employment as it is only one of the eligibility criteria for appointment."
(3.) These guidelines hence, required a person to score 60% or more in the TET to be considered as having passed the test. However, the Government and local bodies were permitted to consider the grant of concessions to persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and other categories to whom the benefit of reservation has been extended. The issue of what should be the extent of the concession to be extended to reserved categories was engaging the attention of NCTE which had received representations from the State Governments and other stakeholders. On 1 April 2011, NCTE communicated a decision inter alia, to the State Governments in the following terms: "The NCTE has received representations from State Governments and other stakeholders that in respect of SCs/STs, etc. relaxation upto 5% in the qualifying marks should be allowed, since such relaxation is permissible by the NCTE for admission in various teacher education courses. The matter was considered by the Council in its meeting held on 16th March, 2011 and it has been decided that relaxation upto 5% in the aforementioned qualifying marks would be available to SCs/STs, etc. in accordance with the extant policy of the State Governments/UTs and other school managements. This decision comes into force with immediate effect.";