The central legal point established is that a Degree from a legally constituted University should be recognized, and the provisions of the National Council Teachers Education Act 1993 were not applicable in the State of Jammu & Kashmir.

1. - This writ petition has been filed by the petitioner Shri Surendra Kumar Gupta challenging the action of the respondents denying him appointment on the post of Teacher Grade-III in the District Alwar. The only ground due to which the appointment was denied to the petitioner was that his Bachelor of Education (for short 'B.Ed.') Degree from the University of Jammu & Kashmir was not recognised by the National Council for Teachers Education which was a body constituted under the National Council Teachers Education Act 1993 and had to be followed by the respondents.

2. The petitioner had applied for the post of Teacher Grade-III in the District of Alwar in pursuance of a notification dated 13.6.98 for which the essential qualification was B.Ed. Degree. The petitioner had undergone the B.Ed. Course conducted by the University of Jammu & Kashmir at Gandhi Memorial College, Srinagar and finally completed the Course in year 1997 as a consequence of which he was awarded the B.Ed. Degree from the University of Jammu & Kashmir in the year 1998. According to the petitioner's version this College is duly affiliated to the University of Jammu & Kashmir and hence he possesses a legal and valid B.Ed. Degree from that University.

3. A provisional merit list was published on 23.7.98 wherein the name of the petitioner was shown at S.No.207 and the name of one Shri Raghuveer Singh of Thanagaji was below the name of the petitioner. Thereafter, a waiting list was published wherein the name of the petitioner was shown at Serial No.51 which was the last name in the list. However, in the final merit list which was published on 9th December 1999, a list of 77 candidates only was published where the name of the petitioner was missing but the name of Shri Raghuveer Singh who was lower in merit than the petitioner in the provisional merit list was shown in the final merit list. The petitioner obviously felt alarmed and therefore made enquiries about exclusion of his name in the final merit list. It was then informed to him that since the B.Ed Degree obtained from the University of Jammu & Kashmir is not recognised by the National Council For Teachers Education which is a body constituted under the National Council Teachers Education Act 1993 and was to be followed by the Zila Parishad while preparing the merit list, the name of the petitioner was excluded. The petitioner therefore has filed this writ petition challenging the action of the respondents who have deleted his name from the merit list.

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner Mr. Mahendra Goya] has first of all invited the attention of this Court to the fact that the University of Jammu & Kashmir finds place in the list of the Universities published by the University Grants Commission and therefore he has urged that since the petitioner's B.Ed Degree is from a legally and duly constituted University, his qualification could not have been ignored. He has further pointed out that the National Council For Teachers Education Act which had prepared a list of its own Universities was not applicable in the State of Jammu & Kashmir even as per the provisions of this Act. Besides this, the offending section 17 of this Act which envisaged that the students who have passed out from these Universities alone will be entitled for appointment on the post of school teachers was challenged before the Division Bench of this High Court and after full scrutiny and consideration of this provision, the learned judges of the Division Bench have struck down the validity of Section 17 of this Act holding it illegal and unconstitutional. Therefore, this provision of the National Council for Teachers Education Act would not hold good for denying appointment to the petitioner. In addition to this, it was urged that the National Council For Teachers Education Act itself lays down that it was not applicable in the State of Jammu & Kashmir as a result of which the Degree obtained from the University of Jammu & Kashmir