The qualifications set by the National Council for Teacher Education are mandatory, and states cannot unilaterally relax these requirements without approval.

Order :

(Ramesh Sinha, C.J.)

1. The petitioners have filed the instant petition challenging the notification dated 05.03.2019, issued by the State Government with respect to the note appended thereto in Annexure-1, thereby the required qualification for the post of Teachers (Agriculture/Music/Tabla) is made not necessary. The present petitioners are aggrieved with respect to the Entry No. 8 of the subjects given in the Annexure- 1, which is the Agriculture subject, and therefore, the petition and the relief claimed in the petition is restricted only to the subject of Agriculture. The petitioners have claimed the following reliefs in their writ petition :

“(i) That, this Hon'ble Court may kindly be pleased to held the note regarding exclusion of B.Ed. for Teacher Agriculture in the Annexure-1 as ultra-vires, in the interest of justice.

(ii) Any other relief which may be suitable in the facts and circumstances of the case, may also be granted.”

2. The subject matter, in brief, is that the petitioners are graduate in agricultural science and having B.Ed./D.El.Ed. qualification with TET. The State Government has notified the Chhattisgarh School Education Service (Education and Administrative Cadre) Recruitment and Promotion Rules, 2019 (in short ‘Rules of 2019’). In the said rules, the minimum qualification was fixed for appointment on the post of Assistant Teacher and Teacher in various subjects, which has been given in Annexure-1 of the Rules of 2019. As per Annexure-1 of Rules of 2019, for the post of Teacher, the B.Ed. degree is compulsory requirement, but for the Teacher (Agriculture), the requirement of B.Ed. degree is excluded as per the note appended in Annexure-1 of the Rules of 2019. It is further appended in the said note that those Teachers would be appointed in Higher Secondary Schools. As per the instructions issued by National Council of Teacher Education (in short ‘NCTE’) dated 12.11.2017, for becoming a Teacher of Middle/High School (class 9^th and 10^th), the candidate should possess B.Ed. degree and it has been mentioned in the notification that if any relaxation is required, then the State Government will send the proposal to the NCTE and then the NCTE will take the final decision regarding relaxation to be given or not. By the said rules of 2019 and Annexure-1, the untrained Teacher of having graduation in Agricultural Science will be selected and the trained Teacher having B.Ed. qualification may be deprived from selection, which is unconstitutional, arbitrary and discriminatory and further it amounts to the teaching by an untrained teacher. Considering the above facts, the NCTE has fixed the requirement of B.Ed. qualification, therefore, the validity of the impugned part of the notification dated 05.03.2019 is challenged by the petitioners.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioners would submit that for the post of Teacher, the B.Ed. degree is compulsory, but for Teacher (Agriculture), the B.Ed. degree is not the necessary requirement and the same is excluded by a note appended in Annexure-1 of Rules of 2019. As per the notification of NCTE Instruction dated 12.11.2017, for the Teacher of Middle/High School, B.Ed. degree is compulsory and if the State Government wants to relax the requirement of B.Ed. degree for any subject, he should send the proposal to the NCTE and then NCTE will take decision on the same, but the State Government on its own cannot take a decision to delete the necessary requirement of the B.Ed. degree. The petitioners are graduate in Agricultural Science having B.Ed./D.El.Ed. qualification with TET. He would further submit that in a similar matter in the State of Uttar Pradesh, the State Government have relaxed the requisite qualification of B.Ed. from Arts subject, but the High Court of Uttarakhand have struck down the said notification of the State of Uttarakhand, in the matter of Pushpa v. State of Uttarakhand and others, judgement dated 15.05.2023 , passed in Special Appeal No. 78 of 2022 and