JUDGMENT

S.B. SINHA, J :

1. Appellant was appointed as an Assistant Teacher in C.T. Grade in an Intermediate College. Admittedly, essential qualifications and other conditions for recruitment there for are prescribed by Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Services Selection Boards Act, 1982 (the Act) and the Rules framed thereunder. Section 16 of the Act provides for the essential qualifications. In terms of the Act, rules were framed by the State of Uttar Pradesh in 1983 known as the Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Services Commission Rules (the Rules). Section 16 of the Act reads, thus :

"16. Appointments to be made only on the recommendations of the Board -(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the Intermediate Education Act, 1921 or the regulations made thereunder but subject to the provisions of Sections 12, 18, 21-B, 21-C, 21-D, 33, 33-A, 33-B, 33-C, 33-D, 33-E and 33-F, every appointment of a teacher, shall on or after the date of the commencement of the Uttar Pradesh Secondary Education Services Selection Board (Amendment) Act, 2001 be made by the management only on the recommendation of the Board":

Provided that in respect of retrenched employees, the provisions of Section 16-EE of the Intermediate Education Act, 1921, shall mutatis mutandis apply:

Provided further that the appointment of a teacher by transfer from one Institution to another, may be made in accordance with the regulations made under Clause (c) of sub-section (2) of Section 16-G of the Intermediate Education Act, 1921:

(2) Any appointment made in contravention of the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be void."

The minimum qualification for Masters and Teachers were laid down in the Rules as prescribed under Section 16E, 16F and Section 16FF of the Act.

2. Rule 3 of the Rules reads as under:-

"3. Qualifications and experience, etc. for appointment as teacher. - (1) The minimum academic qualification for appointment as teacher shall be as given in Regulation 1 under Chapter II of the Regulations, framed under the Intermediate Education Act, 1921. (2) No male person shall be eligible for appointment to the post of the head of an institution or teacher in a girls institution.

Provided that nothing contained in this sub-rule shall apply in relation to -

(i) a teacher already working in a permanent capacity in a girls institution for promotion or appointment to any higher post of a teacher not being the post of the head of an institution in the same institution.

(ii) Appointment as a teacher for the subject of music in an institution to a person who is blind.

Provided further that when a suitable lady candidate is not available for appointment in a girls institution for the post of a teacher, not being the post of head of institution, or for any other sufficient reason, the Commission is satisfied that it is in the interest of the students so to do, it may recommend a male candidate for such post:

Provided also that, before recommending a male candidate in accordance with the preceding proviso, the Commission may obtain and consider the views of the Director and Management."

3. It is neither in doubt nor in dispute that prior to coming into force of the said Act, the matters relating to recruitment of Assistant Teachers used to be governed by the U.P. Intermediate Education Act, 1921 (1921 Act). A bare perusal of the aforementioned provisions read with those of 1921 Act would clearly show that the possession of a graduate degree from a University recognized under the University Grants Commission Act (UGC Act) or any other State Act was at all material and still is imperative.

4. Appellant admittedly did his B.Ed. Degree from Maithili Vishwa Vidyapeeth, Sankat Mochan Dham Darbhanga, Bihar. The name of the said institution allegedly figured in a `Directory of Institutions for Higher Education', published by Ministry of Education and Culture, Government of India in the year 1982. It, however, stands admitted that it was not an institution rec