Judicial Analysis Court Copy Headnote Facts Arguments Court observation

1999 Supreme(Mad) 1090

High Court of Judicature at Madras
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE P. SHAMNUGAM
S. Kannagi
Versus
Director, Teacher Education, Research and Training, Chennai-6 and others
W.P.Nos. 14478, 14616, 14692, 14915, 14923, 14938, 14955, 14968, 14972, 14973, 14979, 15008, 15039, 15044, 15119, 15134, 15242, 15255, 15311, 15338, 15373, 15420, 15465, 15469, 15490, 15557, 15594, 15666, 15670, 16320 and 16361 of 1999
Decided On : 15-10-1999

C. Selvaraju, Singaravelan, S.M. Subramaniam, A. Sirajudeen, S. Jayakumar, C. Selvaraju, L. Chandrakumar, Kandavadivel Doraisami, La. Law, M. Balasubramanian, R.T. Shyamala, T.S. Sivagnanam, U.M. Ravichandran, S. Manohar Ponraj, S. Palani Kumar, K. Ramani, P. Peppin Fernando, Advocate for P. Mani, B. Govindarajan, B. Pugalendi, G. Ranganathan, K. Vasudevan, K. R. Kanniah Naidu, R. Saseedharan, R. Thamilselvan, K. Srinivasan, S. Saravana Kumar, Advocates for Petitioners in WP 16361; Mr. T.R. Rajanopalan, Additional Advocate General assisted by Mr.M. Rathinam, Government Advocate (Edn.) Advocates for Respondents.

The requirement of nativity certificate is not mandatory for admission to Teacher Training Institutions and the production of a community certificate setting out the residence particulars of the individual satisfies the requirement of residence certificate.

Headnote:
EDUCATION - TEACHER TRAINING INSTITUTIONS - ADMISSION - SELECTION - DISTRICTWISE SELECTION - CONSTITUTIONALITY - RESIDENCE CERTIFICATE - NATIVITY CERTIFICATE - ATTESTED COPIES OF DOCUMENTS - REQUIREMENT - INTERPRETATION - SELECTION PROCESS - LEGALITY - COMMON ENTRANCE EXAMINATION - NEED FOR.
Fact of the Case:

The petitioners, candidates for admission to Diploma in Teachers Training Institutions, challenged the rejection of their applications on the ground of non-production of either the nativity certificate or attested copies of the certificates.
Finding of the Court:

1. The requirement for the teachers training is only a residence certificate which has got relevance for the purpose of selection to the particular school. There is no condition that the applicant should be a native of Tamil Nadu and that he should satisfy the requirement of nativity. 2. The production of a community certificate setting out the residence particulars of the individual satisfies the requirement of residence certificate. 3. The requirement of attested copies of documents is not mandatory and the production of plain copies is sufficient. 4. The selection process based on districtwise selection is violative of Articles 14 and 15(1) of the Constitution of India and is unconstitutional and illegal.
Issues: 1. Whether the requirement of nativity certificate is mandatory for admission to Teacher Training Institutions? 2. Whether the production of a community certificate satisfies the requirement of residence certificate? 3. Whether the requirement of attested copies of documents is mandatory? 4. Whether the selection process based on districtwise selection is constitutional?
Ratio Decidendi: 1. The requirement for the teachers training is only a residence certificate which has got relevance for the purpose of selection to the particular school. There is no condition that the applicant should be a native of Tamil Nadu and that he should satisfy the requirement of nativity. 2. The production of a community certificate setting out the residence particulars of the individual satisfies the requirement of residence certificate. 3. The requirement of attested copies of documents is not mandatory and the production of plain copies is sufficient. 4. The selection process based on districtwise selection is violative of Articles 14 and 15(1) of the Constitution of India and is unconstitutional and illegal.
Final Decision: 1. The writ petitions challenging the non-selection on the basis of non-finishing of attested copies and separate residence/nativity certificates are allowed. 2. The respondents are directed to consider the petitioners' applications on merits and if found eligible as on the date of scrutiny, select and admit the petitioners for the T.T.I.s courses, 1999-2000 without delay. 3. The selection for T.T.I.s on district wise basis are quashed as violative of Articles 14 and 15(1) of the Constitution of India. 4. The relevant portion of the Government Order in G.O. Ms.No. 243, Education Department dated 26. 99 and the notification in the newspapers on 7. 99 insofar as it confines to districtwise selection and prohibits application and consideration from outside district is unconstitutional and illegal.

Judgment :

1. Petitioners in this batch of writ petitions are candidates for admission to the Diploma in Teachers Training Institutions. Petitioners are aggrieved by the rejection of their applications on the ground of non-production of either the nativity certificate or attested copies of the certificates, and hence they seek for quashing of the selection of candidates with less marks and consequently, a direction to select them for the said course.

2. The Government of Tamil Nadu passed an order in G.O.Ms. 243, Education Department dated 26. 1999 laying down rules for admission to the 28 District Teachers Training Institutes, 8 Government T.T.I.s. and for the separate classes for the Adi Dravidar and Tribal students in the 17 District T.T.I.s. A notification setting out the procedure was published in the leading Tamil dailies on 7. 99 inviting applications for admission to the schools referred to above. As per this order and the notification, the students are directed to apply to the respective District T.T.I.S. There are two main batches of writ petitions. One set of writ petitions challenge the rejection on the ground of non-production of separate Nativity Certificates and the other set of writ petitions challenge the rejection on the ground of non-furnishing of attested copies of certificates. The contentions and the conclusions are discussed separately in this common order.

Non-Furnishing of Nativity Certificate:

3. Paragraph 8(3) of the notification dealing with the selection procedure states that students applying under the category of erstwhile de-recognised schools should apply to the respective districts where they are permanently residing even though they might have studied in different schools earlier. Column 03 of the application states that the petitioner shall give the permanent address. The instruction under this column states that certificate from the respective officer of the residence should be enclosed. The correct translation for the ‘Iruppida Sandridhazh’ is ‘Residence Certificate’, whereas it is stated as “nativity certificate” in English. Under Column 014 setting out the checklist of the application that are to be included, it is stated that the candidate should enclose copies of the residence certificate. Therefore, what is contemplated in this regard is a certificate to establish that the petitioners are eligible for admission from the respective districts, since residences of other district s are not eligible to be considered for selection in a different district than their residence. Therefore, the concept of nativity is neither in the consideration of the Government Order nor in the paper notification and the application. Even in the counter affidavit, in para 6, it is stated that the petitioners are to include the certificates such as nativity and community certificates certifying the residence and social status of the candidate. Therefore, the purpose is to find out the residence of the individual and not his nativity. Nativity has got a different connotation than the residence. Insofar as nativity certificate is concerned, the Government has issued instructions and guidelines for the issue of those certificates in G.O.Ms.No. 2388, Revenue Department dated 211. 1990. As per this Government Order, the following are the prescriptions:

.(1) Parents/Guardians of the applicant or the applicants themselves should have permanently resided continuously for a period of five years in Tamil Nadu for obtaining nativity certificate.

.(2) Proof of continuous stay of five years in Tamil Nadu.

.(3) Transfer Certificate from the school in which the student last studied to know whether the applicant has studied in educational institution in Tamil Nadu for the last five years continuously.

.(4) Local enquiries to be conducted to ascertain the residence of the candidates for more than five years.

Thus, the nativity requires permanent residence of five years in Tamil Nadu and this should be supported by the

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