Hon’ble Dr. Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, C.J.—By these proceedings which have been instituted by 31 petitioners under Article 226 of the Constitution, there is a challenge to the constitutional validity of Clause (III) (i) (a) of a notification dated 29 July 2011 issued by the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) for the purpose of amending earlier notifications laying down minimum qualifications of eligibility for appointment as a teacher. NCTE has issued the said notification in exercise of powers conferred by Section 23 (1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (Act of 2009).

2. The petitioners have passed the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) after completing their B Ed course and after being awarded the degree qualification. Admittedly, the petitioners did not secure more than 45 percent marks in the Bachelor’s degree examination. They obtained admission to the B Ed course on the strength of having obtained more than 50 percent marks in the Postgraduate degree examination. The State Government issued a Government Order dated 27 September 2011 for making appointments of Assistant Teachers in Junior Basic Schools. Following an amendment made by NCTE on 29 July 2011, the State Government issued a Government Order dated 27 September 2011. An advertisement was issued on 30 November 2011 by District Basic Education Officers in the State for appointments of teachers in Junior Basic Schools, for teaching students between the classes I to V. These facts are not in dispute.

3. The Regulations framed by NCTE in 2002, 2005 and 2007 provided, inter alia, for eligibility to seek admission to the B Ed degree programme. In all the three sets of Regulations, the requirement of eligibility was that a candidate should have obtained at least 45 percent marks either in the Bachelor’s degree or in the Master’s degree. Clause 4 of the 2002 Regulations provided that candidates with at least 45 percent marks in the Bachelor’s/Master’s degree with at least two school subjects at the Graduation level would be eligible for admission. Clause 3 of the Regulations of 2005, contained a similar stipulation. Clause 3.2 of the 2007 Regulations similarly provided for eligibility by stipulating that candidates with at least 45 percent marks either in the Bachelor’s degree and/or in the Master’s degree or any other qualification equivalent thereto, are eligible for admission to the B Ed degree programme. On 31 August 2009, a notification was issued by NCTE under which it was stipulated that, for admission to the B Ed degree programme, a candidate should have obtained either a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with at least 50 percent marks. The requirement of a minimum of 45 percent marks in the Bachelor’s or Master’s degree was, thus, enhanced in the Regulations of 2009, to 50 percent.

4. NCTE issued a notification on 23 August 2010, in exercise of powers conferred by Section 23(1) of the Act of 2009 for the purpose of laying down minimum qualifications for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in classes I to VIII in a school referred to in Section 2 (n) of the Act of 2009. Paragraph 3 of the notification provided for the training to be undergone. On 29 July 2011, Para 3 of the principal notification was amended. As amended, the requirement is as follows :

“(III) For para 3 of the Principal Notification the following shall be substituted, namely :

(i) Training to be undergone.—A person—

(a) with Graduation with at least 50% marks and B. Ed. qualification or with at least 45% marks and 1-year Bachelor in Education (B. Ed.), in accordance with the NCTE (Recognition, Norms and Procedure) Regulations issued from time to time in this regard, shall also be eligible for appointment to Class I to V up to 1st January 2012, provided he/she undergoes, after appointment, an NCTE recognized 6-month Special Programme in Elementary Education;

(b) with D. Ed. (Special Education) or B. Ed. (Special Education) qualif