VIKAS SANKHALA & ORS. ETC. versus VIKAS KUMAR AGARWAL & ORS. ETC.

Citation: [2016] 7 S.C.R. 639 · Decided: 18-10-2016 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: A.K. SIKRI · Disposal: Disposed off

Cited by 8 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

[2016) 7 S.C.R. 639 
VIKAS SANKHALA & ORS. ETC. 
v. 
VIKAS KUMAR AGARWAL & ORS. ETC. 
(Civil Appeal Nos. 3545-3549 of2016) 
OCTOBER 18, 2016 
(A.K. SIKRI AND R.K. AGRAWAL, JJ.] 
Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 
2009 - s. 23: 
Qualifications for appointment of teachers - Passing of 
Teacher Eligibility Test-TET- Minimum pass percentage of TET-
Relaxation in passing marks in TET - Interference with - Held: 
Specific authorization is given to School Management (Government, 
local bodies, Government aided and unaided) to grant special 
concession to different kinds of reserved categories mentioned 
therein, which has to be in accordance with their extant reservation 
policy - Giving concession to certain reserved category candidates 
insofar as passing marks in TET is concerned, that by itself would 
not affect the teaching quality - s. 23(2) itself recognises the power 
for relaxing the minimum qualifications required of a person to be 
eligible for appointment as primary teacher - For giving relaxation 
in passing marks in TET, different outlook and glance is attracted -
Except for State of Andhra Pradesh, no other State has granted 
such wide range of concessions as State of Rajasthan did in its 
letter dated 23.03.2011 - Very high percentage of relaxation may 
amount to compromising with quality which may not be conducive 
to maintaining standards of education - Need to look into and 
reconsider this aspect to bring the relaxations within reasonable 
limits - However, the Court not tinkering with the extant of relaxation 
given in letter dated.23.03.2011 since recruitment tests have been 
conducted and selected candidates are .nowcteaching for last number 
of years - Constitution of India - Arts. 15, 16, 38, 39(a) and 46. 
Qualifications for appointment of teachers - Passing of 
Teacher Eligibility Test-TET- Minimum pass percentage of TET-
Whether National Council for Teacher· Education-NCTE notification 
dated July 29, 2011, amending paragraph ) of its earlier guidelines/ 
notification dated February 11, 2011, provides 5% relaxation to 
639 . 
A 
B 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
640 
A 
B 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2016] 7 S.C.R. 
the reserved category for passing TET - Held: NCTE does not 
provide any provision for relaxation in TET examination for reserved 
category candidates but has left it to the State Governments to do 
the needful in this behalf - Relaxation provided in the amended 
para 3 has no relation whatsoever with TET but relates to the 
qualifying marks in graduation and B.Ed. Etc - It cannot be said 
that the provision for relaxation upto 5% in qualifying marks at all 
relates to TET - Relaxation in passing TET is governed by para 9 of 
the Notification dated February 11, 2011 - There is no amendment 
to the said para - Amendment is incorporated in para 3 of the 
principal notification dated February 11, 2011, which gives the 
rationale for including TET as a minimum qualification. 
Policy of the State in letter dated March 23, 2011 deciding to 
give relaxation ranging from 10% to 20% in TET marks to different 
reserved categories as mentioned therein - Validity of - Held: 
Relaxation prescribed in letter dated March 23, 2011 in pass marks 
in TET examination for different reserved categories mentioned 
therein is legal and valid in law. 
Reserved category candidates, who secured better than general 
category candidates in recruitment examination, if could be denied 
migration to general seats on the basis that they had availed 
relaxation in TET - Held: Migration from reserved category to 
general category admissible to those reserved category candidates 
who secured more marks obtained by the last unreserved category 
candidates selected, subject to the condition that such reserved 
category candidates did not avail any other special concession -
Concession of passing marks in TET would not be treated as 
concession falling in the said category. 
Disposing of the appeals, the Court 
HELD: 1.1 The amended sub-para (ii) of para 3 of the 
Notification/Guidelines dated February 11, 2011 stipulates that 
relaxation upto 5% in the qualifying marks is to be allowed to 
candidates belonging to reserved categories. The submission of 
the appellants who belonged to reserved category and are 
beneficiary of relaxation provided by the State Government vide 
its letter dated March 23, 2011 is that the relaxation provided in 
the said amended para 3 has no relation whatsoever with TET

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