Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, J. - (1.) The present writ petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that a direction be issued to Northern Regional Committee, National Council for Teacher Education and its parent body National Council for Teacher Education, New Delhi to grant recognition to the petitioner college for B.Ed. Course w.e.f. 2015 -2016 in consonance with National Council for Teacher Education (Recognition Norms and Procedure) Regulations, 2014 (hereinafter called 'Regulations, 2014').
(2.) The controversy raised in the present petition is in very narrow compass. Admittedly, the petitioner college had prepared on 29.5.2015 FDR and a list of staff recruited. The petitioner college presented the relevant material which included FDR and list of staff recruited along with other documents as per requirement of respondents, on 31.5.2015. 30th May, 2015 happened to be Saturday and 31st May, 2015 was Sunday. Both, Saturday and Sunday were not working days of the respondent organization. Hence, the documents furnished by the petitioner college along with FDR were not accepted. Admittedly, they were accepted on 1st June, 2015.
(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioner has drawn attention of this Court to pleadings made in Para 5 of the writ petition and reply thereto filed by the respondent Nos. 1 to 3. Para 5 of the writ petition reads as under: - "That, in compliance of letter of intent under clause 7(13) petitioner college submitted reply on 01.06.2015 before respondents alongwith F.D.R. Dated 29.05.2015 for require amount of Rs. 12,00,000/ - and details of teaching staff along with the approval letter of the affiliating university dated 29.5.2015, but Respondents have not accepted said application and FDR malafidely by saying that today is Sunday, hence, it can be submitted tomorrow, even otherwise also according to the provisions of Sec. 10 of General Clauses Act, 1897 application as well as FDR submitted by the petitioner college was to be treated within stipulated time, as admittedly there was holiday on 31.05.2015, therefore, next working day was to be treated as cutoff date i.e. 01.06.2015, but respondents have denied the recognition of petitioner college from the academic session 2015 -16 by saying that the reply to the letter of intent has been submitted by the petitioner college after cutoff date i.e. 31.05.2015, in view of the above mentioned facts and circumstances it is crystal clear that the respondents have deliberately granted the recognition to the petitioner college from academic session 2016 -17, whereas according to the provisions of clause 5(5) and 5(6) of the Regulation 2014, recognition for B.Ed. course was to be granted from academic year 2015 -16, as application of the petitioner college was pending consideration in the office of the respondents prior 1st March, 2015 to 31st May, 2015. The copy of reply dated 31.05.2015 is enclosed herewith and marked as Annexure -5.";