JUDGMENT :

K.VINOD CHANDRAN, J.

1. Whether the test qualification specified in Rule 18(1) of the Kerala Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules 2011 [for brevity 'the Rules'] is mandatory even for the teachers who have crossed the age of 50 years is the issue arising in the Original Petitions.

2. The petitioners in O.P.(KAT) Nos.105 and 259 of 2019 are persons qualified in the mandatory tests prescribed. They canvassed for the position that after the Rules came into effect and the prescription made, there can be no Head Teacher appointed without the test qualification which has been specified by the Government. The petitioners in O.P.(KAT) Nos.181 and 184 of 2019, who were not originally impleaded in the Original Applications before the Tribunal, are persons who filed review before the Tribunal. They are teachers who crossed 50 years of age and are eligible to be posted as Head Teachers on the basis of their seniority, but are disabled for reason of they having not acquired the test qualification. They contend that they need only acquire such qualification within three years.

3. Before the Tribunal the challenge was against Annexure A6 dated 06.03.2018 as produced in O