IMPORTANT POINT
The central legal point established in the judgment is the interpretation of Section 14 of the NCTE Act and the validity of B.Ed. degrees obtained from an institute prior to its recognition by the NCTE.

JUDGMENT :

Vijay Bishnoi, J

This intra-Court appeal is filed by the appellant being aggrieved with the order dated 19.10.2023 passed by the learned Single Judge in WP(C) No.5221/2022, whereby the writ petition filed by the appellant/writ petitioner, questioning the B.Ed. Degree of the respondent No.7 herein, has been dismissed.

2. The brief facts of the case are that on 24.12.2018 an advertisement was published in a Bengali Daily newspaper, namely, Samayik Prasanga, inviting applications for filing up the post of Principal of Baleswar Higher Secondary School, Jalalpur, Cachar on regular basis. The appellant and the private respondent along with another candidate had applied for the said post. The School Selection Committee of Baleswar Higher Secondary School, Jalalpur selected the respondent No.7 and placed the appellant and the other person jointly at Serial No.2.

3. The claim of the appellant is that the B.Ed. Degree of the respondent No.7 and the other person were not valid degrees because at the time when they obtained the B.Ed. Degrees from Dr. Shashi Bhushan Institute of Education, Hailakandi, the said Institute was not recognized by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE). It is contended that Dr. Shashi Bhushan Institute of Education was established on 31.12.1995 and the said Institute applied for recognition of its B.Ed. Degree from NCTE on 12.08.1997. The NCTE granted provisional recognition on 13.01.2000 and final recognition was granted on 15.06.2001, whereas the respondent No.7 passed the B.Ed. course from the said Institute in the year 1997 when, admittedly, Dr. Shashi Bhushan Institute of Education was not recognized by the NCTE to grant B.Ed. Degree.

4. The learned Single Judge rejected the above claim of the writ petitioner/appellant taking into consideration the fact that the B.Ed. Degree of one Shri Govinda Chakraborty obtained from the Dr. Shashi Bhushan Institute of Education prior to the date of its recognition was put to challenge by way of WP(C) No.3214/2019 [Swapan Kumar Singha Vs. the State of Assam & Ors.], however, the said challenge came to be rejected by the learned Single Judge vide judgment dated 05.04.2022 and the said judgment was affirmed by the Division Bench of this Court in WA No.154/2022 [Swapan Kumar Singha Vs. The State of Assam & Ors.] vide order dated 28.04.2023. In those judgments, the learned Single Judge as well as the Division Bench of this Court has affirmed the B.Ed. Degree of Shri Govinda Chakraborty while recording a specific finding that as per Section 14 of the National Council for Teacher Education Act, 1993 (hereinafter to be referred as “the NCTE Act”), an application seeking grant of recognition was required to be submitted to the Regional Committee concerned in such form and in such manner as may be determined by the Regulations. It has been further observed that such application could have been filed only as per the procedures prescribed by the Regulations and such Regulations were notified later on, therefore, before coming into force of the Regulations, no application could be filed by any Institute offering B.Ed. Degree for recognition to NCTE.

5. The learned Single Judge had also taken into consideration the fact that the NCTE extended the date for filing of application for recognition up to 18.08.1997 and Dr. Shashi Bhushan Institute of Education had submitted application seeking recognition of its B.Ed. Degree course on 12.08.1997, therefore, an incumbent who has obtained B.Ed. Degree from Dr. Shashi Bhushan Institute prior to the date of its recognition cannot be made to suffer because of certain hyper-technicalities. Relying on the decisions rendered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in P. Kasilingam & Ors. Vs. P.S.G. College of Technology and Ors., reported in (1995) 2 SCC 348 and State of UP & Ors. Vs. Bhupendra Nath Tripathi & Ors., reported in (2010) 13 SCC 2023, the learned Single Judge has dismissed the writ petition filed by the appellant.

6. While assaili