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2021 Supreme(J&K) 214
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR AND LADAKH AT SRINAGAR
SANJAY DHAR, PANKAJ MITHAL, JJ.
Ashok Kumar - Appellants.
Versus
Union of India and others - Respondent(s)
WP(C) No.2754 OF 2019 c/w WP(C) No.1728 OF 2019
Decided on : 18-08-2021
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant :Mr. S. A. Naik, Advocate.
For the Respondent: Mr. Nazir Ahmad Bhat, CGSC.
Point of Law: Post of Peon/Mate (SSK) – Reinstatement into service but without backwages and any promotion - Tribunal has rightly provided for his reinstatement but without any right of promotion to any higher scale post unless he improves upon his educational qualification while in service.
Headnote:
UP Intermediate Education Act, 1921 - Section 1(2) - Regulation 2 – Regulations – Qualification – Valid certificate - Whether in terms of advertisement Ashok Kumar is having certificate of matriculation from a recognized Board/ University - Tribunal by impugned order has set-aside the order of termination of Ashok Kumar and has directed for his reinstatement into service but without backwages and any promotion.
Finding of the Court:
It is affiliated is duly recognized or not. Therefore, he cannot be penalized for it when he has otherwise been selected and appointed and at same time has worked for so many years. Post on which he has been appointed is not a post of skill or a post on which very talented persons are required to function. Petitioner is a ‘little Indian’ who is educated up to Matriculation from a school which may not be affiliated to a recognized Board and as such, it would not be in ends of justice to disturb his appointment at this stage. Post on which he is working requires work of menial in nature. Therefore, Tribunal has rightly provided for his reinstatement but without any right of promotion to any higher scale post unless he improves upon his educational qualification while in service - Power to recognize institutions for purposes of its examinations. The word “Institution” has been defined under Section 2(b) to mean a recognized Intermediate College, Higher Secondary School or High School, and includes, where the context so requires, a pan of an institution.
Result: Writ petitions disposed of
JUDGMENT :
Pankaj Mithal, J
1. The judgment and order dated 17.09.2018 passed by the Central Administrative Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench in TA No.62/00011/2015 : Ashok Kumar v. Union of India, and others and various miscellaneous applications connected thereto, has been challenged by both the sides by filing two writ petitions.
2. The Tribunal by the impugned order has set-aside the order of termination of Ashok Kumar and has directed for his reinstatement into service but without backwages and any promotion. The aforesaid Ashok Kumar has preferred the writ petition being WP(C) No.2754/2019 claiming backwages whereas the other writ petition being WP(C) No.1728/2019 has been filed on behalf of the Union of India.
3. The aforesaid Ashok Kumar came to be appointed on a post of Peon/Mate (SSK) upon selection pursuant to the advertisement dated 05.12.2011 which provided for the minimum qualification for the said post as Matriculation from a recognized Board/ University or ITI in any trade from a recognized Institute/ University or equivalent course from an Institute recognized by National College for Vocational Training. The aforesaid appointment of the petitioner has been cancelled initially on 30.03.2013 followed by subsequent similar orders on the ground that his certificate of matriculation from the Board of Higher Secondary Education, Delhi, is not from the recognized Board/ University.
4. So the only question which crops up before us is whether in terms of the aforesaid advertisement Ashok Kumar is having the certificate of matriculation from a recognized Board/ University.
5. We have heard Mr. S. A. Naik, learned counsel for Ashok Kumar and Mr. Nazir Ahmad Bhat, learned counsel for the Union of India.
6. It has been argued on behalf of the Union of India that the Board of Higher Secondary Education, Delhi, is not a recognized Board and any certificate of matriculation given or issued by it is not admissible. The said Board upon enquiries have been found to have been de-recognized at least from 2012 though it stood de-recognized earlier also.
7. Learned counsel appearing for Ashok Kumar submits that his client has passed High School from a School at Gurdaspur (Punjab), which is affiliated to the Board of Higher Secondary Education, Delhi, in the year 2009-10 and during this period the Board was validly recognized under the U.P. Intermediate Education Act, 1921. Therefore, any previous or subsequent de-recognition of the Board would not make the certificate of matriculation to be illegal and in-admissible for the purposes of above job.
8. The case put up before us is that the Board of High Secondary Education, Delhi, is recognized under Regulation 2 of Chapter XIV of the Regulations framed under the UP Intermediate Education Act, 1921 and that its name figure at serial no.29 and 38.
9. The documents annexed by Ashok Kumar along with his petition reveal that he was student of Ganpati Public Sr. Secondary School, Bariar, District Gurdaspur in Punjab. It is said that the aforesaid school was affiliated to the Board of Higher Secondary Education, Delhi. He has been issued a secondary school certificate for the year 2010 by the aforesaid Board on 19.06.2010. It is followed by the marks sheet also of the said Board. The aforesaid certificate and marks sheet demonstrates that the said Board claims itself to be a Board recognized for conducting examinations at the level of the High School etc., of the students of the school and colleges affiliated to it. The said Board also claims itself to be recognized under Regulation 2 of Chapter XIV of the regulations of the UP Intermediate Education Act, 1921.
10. In these circumstances, it is essential for us to have a glimpse over the provisions of the U.P. Intermediate Education Act, 1921 and the regulations framed thereunder.
11. The aforesaid Act vide Section 1(2) clearly provides that it shall extend to the whole of Uttar Pradesh meaning thereby that its jurisdiction is limited to the State of Uttar Pra
