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IN THE HIGH COURT OF ORISSA AT CUTTACK

W.P.(C) No.11896 of 2022

Sulekha Sarin

….

Petitioner

Mr. Satyabrata Mohanty, Advocate

-versus-

State of Odisha and others

….

Opposite Parties

Mr. Biswajit Mohanty, S.C.

(for S & ME Deptt.)

CORAM: MR. JUSTICE S.K. PANIGRAHI

Order No.

ORDER

10.05.2022

01.

1. The matter is taken up through hybrid mode.

2. In this writ petition, the petitioner has assailed the arbitrary action

of the authority in not considering her candidature in the draft merit

list. The petitioner has been allegedly excluded from the merit list

merely on the ground that she has completed her graduation degree

in Commerce (B.Com) and the B. Com degree course does not have

any school subjects.

3. The case, in a nutshell, is that, the School and Mass Education

Department, Government of Odisha has decided to fill up the

vacancies of different posts of Contractual Trained Graduate

Teachers in Government Secondary Schools of the State of Odisha

in 2021. Accordingly, the Director of Secondary Education, Odisha

Bhubaneswar-opposite party No.2 issued Advertisement/ Notice on

28.08.2021. This notification carried the details of the conditions

and norms which are applicable for the intending eligible candidates

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for recruitment against the existing vacancies of contractual Trained

Graduate Teachers in Government Secondary Schools of Odisha.

4. As per the advertisement, online registration would commence

from 04.09.2021 and would continue till 30.09.2021 up to 6.00 P.M.

The minimum academic and professional qualification as prescribed

under clause-5B of the said Advertisement for the post of Trained

Graduate Teachers Arts reads as follows:

"1. Bachelor Degree in Arts / Commerce or a

Shastri (Sanskrit) Degree from a recognized

university with two school subjects (school

subjects as defined in the proviso here under)

from a recognized university having 50%

marks in aggregate (45% for SC/ST/PWD/

SEBC candidates) and Bachelor in Education

(B. Ed)/3 years integrated B.Ed-M.Ed from a

NCTE recognized institution.

OR

2. Four-year integrated B.A. B. Ed from a

NCTE recognized institution with two school

subjects (school subjects as defined in the

proviso here under) having 50% marks in

aggregate

(45%

for

SC/ST/PWD/SEBC

candidates).

Provided that:

In any case the candidate must have passed the

Bachelor Degree with any two school subjects

offered

as

Pass/

Hons/Elective/

Optional/Compulsory

subject

out

of

the

following:

English, Odia, Sanskrit, History, Geography,

Economics, Political Science, Indian Economy,

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Landmarks

in

Indian

History,

Indian

Geography, Indian Polity.”

5. Accordingly, the petitioner applied for the post by the due date

and the examination was held on the scheduled date. As the

petitioner fulfilled all the criteria i.e. educational qualifications as

prescribed in the Advertisement, after completion of the

examination, the petitioner participated in the process of verification

of documents. Subsequently, the opposite parties issued notice on

26.11.2021 to intimate the candidates regarding the post-wise draft

merit list and post-wise draft rejection list for candidates who had

appeared in the online test of C.B.T held from 25.10.2021 to

28.10.2021 and had gotten their documents verified from 18.11.2021

to 23.11.2021.

6. On verification of the said draft list, the present petitioner found

herself featuring on the post-wise draft rejection list and the ground

of rejection as assigned to her, is noted to be “not having two school

subjects in Bachelor Degree as prescribed" and "lack of two school

subjects in B.com".

7. Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that after coming to

know of her rejection, the petitioner raised her o