The court established that eligibility for the Teacher Aptitude Test must be strictly interpreted according to the specific conditions set in the advertisement, without adding additional requirements.

JUDGMENT :

A.S. SUPEHIA, J.

1. ADMIT. Learned Advocate Mr. Kikani waves service of notice of admission on behalf of respondent No. 1.

2. The present Letters Patent Appeals filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent, 1865 emanate from the judgment dated 26.08.2022 passed by the learned Single Judge allowing the captioned writ petition. The learned Single Judge has held that the respondents are eligible to appear in Teacher Aptitude Test (hereinafter referred to as “T.A.T.”) in view of the Clause 5 (ii) of NCTE (National Council for Teacher Education) Guidelines.

3. At the outset, the learned AGP has submitted that the learned Single Judge has primarily allowed the writ petition by placing reliance on the judgment of Supreme Court in the case of Omkar Singh and Ors. vs. State of Utter Pradesh and Ors. 2019 (11) SCALE 46. She has submitted that the ratio of this judgment will not apply in the present case, since the provisions governing the Notification/Advertisement of the present case, which was issued on 11.06.2018, does not appear to be identical to Clause 5 (ii) of NCTE Guidelines, which has been considered by the Supreme Court.

4. The learned AGP has further submitted that as per the clause of the notification/ Advertisement dated 11.06.2018, only those candidates, who had appeared in the examination of last year/semester and the results thereof are awaited, are found to be eligible in appearing the examination of T.A.T. (Secondary) examination however, in the present case, the respondents do not satisfy the said condition. She has submitted while pointing out one of the applications of the respondents, that by filling up the application form, the respondents have incorrectly stated that they have cleared B.Ed. Examination in the year, 2019, whereas the certificate, which has been produced by such candidates, would show that the examination of B.Ed. was held between March-June of 2019 and the certificate/ result was declared on 06.04.2019.

5. She has submitted that the Teacher Aptitude Test (T.A.T.) was held in January, 2019 and the result was declared on 16.05.2019 and hence, on that day, it cannot be said that they had appeared in the examination of B.Ed. and their results were awaited. She has further invited the attention of this Court to the guidelines issued by Clause 5 (ii) of NCTE Guidelines dated 11.02.2011. She has pointed out that Clause 5 (ii) of such Guidelines, which has been considered by the Supreme Court in the case of Omkar Singh (supra) was governing Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) and it mentions as “A person who is pursuing any of the teacher education courses (recognised by the NCTE or the RCI as the case may be), specified in the NCTE Notification dated 23rd August 2010.”

6. Thus, she has submitted that both the provisions of Clause 5 (ii) of NCTE Guidelines issued governing TET and the notification/Advertisement dated 11.06.2018 issued by the State Government for Teachers Aptitude Test (Secondary T.A.T.) operate in different realm.

7. Thus, it is urged that since the entire case of the respondents is premised on the judgment of the Supreme Court in case of Omkar Singh (supra) and the learned Single Judge has also followed the directions/observations made by the Supreme Court, the present Appeal may be allowed, as the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Omkar Singh (supra) will not apply in the case of respondents.

8. Per contra, learned advocate Mr. Abhichandani appearing on behalf of respondents for Mr. S.M. Kikani has submitted that the order passed by the learned Single Judge may not be interfered with. He has submitted that pursuant to the interim order passed by this Court, the respondent Nos. 3, 5 and 8 i.e. Patel Sweta Jitendra, Patel Nilmalkumar Rajeshbhai and Prajapati Bharatbhai Dalsukhbhai had filed undertaking dated 09.05.2024, wherein they have specifically stated that the appointments to the post of Shikshan Sahayak, pursuant to the Notification/Advertisement will be subject to results