Bela M. Trivedi, J. - (1.) WITH the consent of the learned counsels for the parties, all the petitions are disposed of by this common order at the admission stage. The common cause of action giving rise to these petitions, is on account of the press notes dt. 31/12/2014 and 17/2/2015 given by the respondents, whereby it has been mentioned inter alia that the candidates having 60% or more marks in RTET (36% marks for the candidates belonging to SC category in TSP area) will be called for the verification of the documents for the posts of Teacher Gr. III (Level I and II). The petitioners therefore have sought quashing of the said press notes and directions against the respondents to call the petitioners for verification of documents and also thereafter to give them appointments on their respective posts in various Zila Parishads. The brief facts are that the petitioners had applied for the post of Teacher Gr. III, Level I and II (subject wise) in various Zila Parishads pursuant to the advertisement dt. 11/8/2013 issued by the respondents. The minimum qualification required for the said posts was laid down in condition No. 7 of the said advertisement, according to which apart from the education qualification, the candidates were required to possess the RTET Certificate. The respondents thereafter had conducted the written examination for the said posts of Teacher Gr. III and had declared the result on 31/12/2014. The respondents also issued the cut off marks for the respective categories for the respective Zila Parishads. According to the petitioners, though they had possessed less than 60% marks in RTET examination, their total number of marks calculated as per the condition No. 15 of the advertisement in question were more than the cut off marks fixed by the respondents for the said posts, and therefore they were eligible to be called for the verification of the documents and also for the appointments.
(2.) AT this juncture, it is relevant to mention that the National Councils for Teachers Education (NCTE), designated nodal agency to prescribe the minimum qualifications of eligibility for appointment as Teacher for Class I to VIII in all schools including those administered by the State Government, Local Bodies as well as Government Aided and Non -aided, had issued the notification dt. 23/8/2010 published on 25/8/2010 in the gazette of India invoking its powers under Sec. 23 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, laying down minimum qualifications for the appointment as Teacher. It was laid down therein inter alia that it would be compulsory for a person to pass the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) to be conducted by the appropriate government in accordance with the guidelines framed by the NCTE for the purpose. The NCTE thereafter had forwarded the guidelines for conducting the TET to all Secretaries/Commissioners of Education of State Governments/UTs vide its letter dt. 11/2/2011. It appears that while prescribing those minimum passing percentage for TET in the said guidelines, a liberty in terms of Clause 9(a) of the said guidelines was accorded to the school managements (Government Local Bodies, Government Aided and un -aided) to grant concession to persons belonging to SC/ST/OBC/differently able persons etc. in accordance with their extant reservation policy. Clause 9(b) provided for waitage should be given to TET Course in the recruitment process. It further appears that in the purported response to clause 9(a) of the said guidelines dt. 11/2/2011, the State Government issued a letter dt. 23/3/2011 to grant relaxation to the candidates belonging to various reserved categories from 10% to 20%. The NCTE thereafter vide notification dt. 29/7/2011 amended its earlier notification dt. 23/8/2010 modifying the minimum qualifications for the recruitment to the post of Teacher at both levels I and II. In the said notification under the caption reservation policy, it was prescribed that relaxation upto 5% in qualifying marks to the candidates belonging to reserved category such as SC/ST/OBC/PH would be extended. The result of RTET 2011 having been declared granting relaxation to the reserved category candidates as per the letter dt. 23/3/2011 issued by the State Government and not as per the subsequent notification dt. 29/7/2011 issued by the NCTE, the aggrieved candidates had filed various petitions being S.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 13488 of 2012 and others (Vikas Kumar Agarwal vs. State of Rajasthan and Ors.).
(3.) ONE of the issues formulated by the learned Single Judge in the said petitions was as to whether a candidate belonging to the reserved category was eligible for the appointment to the post of Teacher Gr. III, if he was not possessing 60% marks in RTET as per the qualification prescribed by the National Council for Teachers Education (NCTE)? In the said petition, the learned Single Judge interpretating the various notifications and guidelines issued by the NCTE inter alia set aside the order of the State Government dt. 23/3/2011 providing relaxation of marks from 10% to 20% to the reserved category in TET examination and held that the benefit of relaxation to the extent of 5% only in the qualifying marks of RTET could be granted, vide the judgment dt. 6/10/2012. Being aggrieved by the said judgment passed by the learned Single Judge, various appeals came to be filed by the State of Rajasthan, and other candidates, being D.B. Civil Special Appeal (Writ) No. 1484 of 2012 and others. The Division Bench modified the decision of the learned Single Judge by passing the following order: - "In the wake of the determinations made hereinabove, the appeals fail and are dismissed. To reiterate, the results of the RTET 2011 are set aside to the extent of participation of the reserved category candidates benefited by the relaxation granted by the State Government in excess of its extant reservation policy. The results of RTET 2011 has, therefore, to be re -cast. The participation of the reserved category candidates in the final recruitment test, who would thus have to be declared unsuccessful in the RTET 2011, has also to be declared illegal. Consequently, the eventual final results in the selection process have to be prepared afresh and declared accordingly. In undertaking this exercise to prepare the final results, the decision recorded herein on the aspect of migration of reserved category candidates into the quota of general category candidates would also be complied with." The Division Bench while disposing of the aforestated appeals had held after considering the notification dt. 23/8/2010 and 29/7/2011 issued by the NCTE, that the concession of 5% in the qualifying marks pertained to the percentage of marks in the qualifying examination of Senior Secondary/Graduation etc. and not to the percentage of pass marks in TET. It was categorically held therein that the notification dt. 29/7/2011 accorded concession of 5% only to the minimum percentage of marks in the prescribed qualifying examination i.e. Senior Secondary, Graduation etc. and that this relaxation was neither intended by it nor was permissible to be co -related with the percentage of pass marks in the TET. It was also held that the concessions granted by the letter dt. 23/3/2011 were not in conformity with the extant reservation policy inforce and therefore the participation of the reserved category candidates in the recruitment for the post of Teacher Gr. III was required to be declared illegal.;