Chandrawati Education Society & ANR v. National Council For Teacher Education & ANR

$~44, 46, 47, 54, 55, 57, 60, 62 & 66 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI + W.P.(C) 2169/2020 B S PUBLIC SCHOOL SAMITI & ANR ..... Petitioner versus NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TEACHER EDUCATION & ANR ..... Respondent + W.P.(C) 2171/2020 CHANDRAWATI EDUCATION SOCIETY & ANR..... Petitioner versus NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TEACHER EDUCATION & ANR ..... Respondent + W.P.(C) 2173/2020 B S PUBLIC SCHOOL SAMITI & ANR ..... Petitioner versus NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TEACHER EDUCATION & ANR ..... Respondent + W.P.(C) 2180/2020 B S PUBLIC SCHOOL SAMITI & ANR ..... Petitioner versus NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TEACHER EDUCATION & ANR ..... Respondent + W.P.(C) 2181/2020 B S PUBLIC SCHOOL SAMITI & ANR ..... Petitioner versus NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TEACHER EDUCATION & ANR ..... Respondent 1/5

+ W.P.(C) 2184/2020 B S PUBLIC SCHOOL SAMITI & ANR ..... Petitioner versus NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TEACHER EDUCATION & ANR ..... Respondent + W.P.(C) 2187/2020 B S PUBLIC SCHOOL SAMITI & ANR ..... Petitioner versus NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TEACHER EDUCATION & ANR ..... Respondent + W.P.(C) 2189/2020 CHANDRAWATI EDUCATION SOCIETY & ANR..... Petitioner versus NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TEACHER EDUCATION & ANR ..... Respondent + W.P.(C) 2197/2020 CHANDRAWATI EDUCATION SOCIETY & ANR..... Petitioner versus NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR TEACHER EDUCATION & ANR ..... Respondent 2/5

Counsel for the petitioners:

Mr. Amitesh Kumar, Adv.

Counsel for the respondents: Ms. Arunima Dwivedi with Ms. Nihariaka Rai, Advs.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJIV SHAKDHER

O R D E R

% 26.02.2020 CM No.7666/2020 in W.P.(C) 2169/2020 CM No.7667/2020 in W.P.(C) 2171/2020 CM No.7672/2020 in W.P.(C) 2173/2020 CM No.7683/2020 in W.P.(C) 2180/2020 CM No.7685/2020 in W.P.(C) 2181/2020 CM No.7690/2020 in W.P.(C) 2184/2020 CM No.7692/2020 in W.P.(C) 2187/2020 CM No.7694/2020 in W.P.(C) 2189/2020 CM No.7706/2020 in W.P.(C) 2197/2020 1.

Allowed, subject to just exceptions.

W.P.(C) 2169/2020 W.P.(C) 2171/2020 W.P.(C) 2173/2020 W.P.(C) 2180/2020 W.P.(C) 2181/2020 W.P.(C) 2184/2020 W.P.(C) 2187/2020 W.P.(C) 2189/2020 W.P.(C) 2197/2020 2.

Issue notice. Ms. Arunima Dwivedi accepts notice for the respondents.

3.

With the consent of the parties, the matters are taken up for final hearing and disposal.

3/5

4.

These petitions raise a common grievance, which is, that though a decision was taken by the Northerern Regional Committee (NRC) of the National Council for Teacher Education (in short "NCTE") to constitute a Visiting Team ("VT") at its 288th Meeting held between 5th and 7th September, 2018, there has been no movement thereafter qua the applications filed by the petitioners for recognition for the courses referred to therein.

5.

To be noted, some of the petitioners have sought recognition qua STC (D.El.Ed.) i.e. two units while the others have sought recognition qua B.Ed. (शि्ቌािाኚᮌी) course i.e. two units.

6.

That a decision was taken to constitute a VT is evident on perusal of the minutes of meeting held by NRC between 5th and 7th 2018. It is pertinent to note that this meeting was held pursuant to the impugned order passed by the Appeal Committee as far back as on 7.6.2018. 7.

Given this position, the writ petitions are disposed of with the following directions:

(i) If a VT has been constituted qua any of the institutions, the said VT shall carry out an inspection and accordingly, generate a report, which will be placed before the concerned regional committee i.e. NRC/WRC as per the provisions of the Gazette Notification dated 27.1.2020, issued by NCTE within eight (8) weeks of receipt of a copy of the order.

(ii) In cases where VT is not constituted, the NRC/WRC will constitute a VT within three (3) weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order.

4/5

(iii) The VT shall, thereafter, carry out an inspection and generate a report which will be placed before the concerned regional committee i.e. NRC/WRC within eight (8) weeks from the receipt of a copy of the order.

8.

Before I conclude, another aspect which is pointed out to me by Mr. Amitesh Kumar, counsel for the petitioners and other advocates who appear in such like matters, is that, the regional committees are not holding meetings frequently. Mr. Kumar has brought to my notice the document marked as Annexure P-15, which is appended at page 90 of the paper book. 9.

A perusal of this document would show that after 288th Meeting convened by NRC, only 25 meetings have been held. The NRC has met at an average of 3 to 5 days in a month.

10.

The NCTE needs to examine this aspect of the matter concerning not only the NRC but other regional committees as well. 11.

The NCTE, in my opinion, should advise the regional committees to meet more frequently. NCTE, at highest level, will examine this aspect and place a report before the Court as to how this issue is taken forward. 12.

Ms. Dwivedi will place the order passed today before the Chairperson of the NCTE. Consequential steps will be taken, thereafter, with due expedition.

13.

The captioned writ petitions are disposed of in the aforementioned terms.

14.

List W.P.(C) 2169/2020 on 28.4.2020 for compliance. RAJIV SHAKDHER, J FEBRUARY 26, 2020/pmc 5/5