[Kerala Education Rules] Acharya Certificate Issued By Hindi Prachar Sabha Can Be Treated As Collegiate Training Such As B.Ed: High Court

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday held that the the Acharya certificate issued by the Kerala Hindi Prachar Sabha can be treated as a collegiate training such as B.T, L.T or B.Ed as provided under Explanation I to Rule 44A of Chapter XIV(A) of Kerala Education Rules (KER). Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan passed the above order while considering a case relating to promotion of a High School Assistant to the post of Headmaster following 13 years of graduate service. "For deciding the same, this Court has to read Rule (2) of Chapter XXXI of KER read with Explanation (1) to Rule 44A of Chapter XIV(A) of KER. There the graduate service is explained to the effect that the graduate service should be after acquisition of collegiate training such as B.T, L.T or B.Ed. Rule 44A Chapter of XIV(A) also states the minimum qualification for appointment as Headmaster. Since the explanation clearly says that after acquisition of collegiate training such as B.T, L.T or B.Ed, the candidate should be in graduate service as defined in that explanation. Hence it is clear that the qualification of B.T, L.T or B.Ed alone are not included but such other qualifications are also included," the Court observed.The Court noted that what exactly is meant by 'collegiate training' has not been defined in Kerala Education Act and Rules, and therefore, the simple meaning of collegiate training that refers to training in a college would have to be accepted. "Therefore there cannot be a dispute to the fact that the Acharya Examination of Kerala Hindi Prachar Sabha is a collegiate training in the light of Ext P7 certificate (Acharya Certificate)," it added. The Court thus went on to observe, "Ext.P7 (Acharya Certificate) is a collegiate training and as per Rule 2(iv) of Chapter XXXI of KER, the training qualification includes Acharya course of the Kerala Hindi Prachar Sabha. Explanation III was inserted as per Ext.P6 amendment to KER on 17.02.2020. Since that Explanation was added on 17.02.2020, the mentioning of the term “equivalent” in Rule 2(1) of Chapter XXXI of KER can be presumed as relaxed", and found the petitioner to possess the requisite qualifications for promotion as Headmistress.Brief FactsThe petitioner in this case, who had initially been appointed as a High School Assistant (Hindi) (HSA), was promoted as Headmistress against a retirement vacancy which arose in the All Saints High School on April 1st, 2017. This appointment was approved by the District Educational Officer (1st respondent). The petitioner avers that she was promoted as Headmistress, after having completed 13 years of approved graduate service as HSA, and that she also had B.A. and M.A. Degree Certificates in Hindi, as well as a B.Ed. Degree that she had obtained in the year 2013. Apart from these the petitioner also pointed out that she had passed the Account Test (Lower) and the test on Kerala Education Act and Rules conducted by the Kerala Public Service Commission in the year 2012, and was the senior most in the combined seniority list of HSA maintained as per Rule 34(a) of Chapter XIV(A) of KER for promotion as Headmistress. It is the case of the petitioner that despite having the requisite qualifications as prescribed under Chapter XIV(A), Rule 44 and Rule 44A read with the Explanations to sub-rule (1) of Rule 44A of KER, the Additional Director, General Education Department, Thiruvanathapuram cancelled the approval for promotion granted to the petitioner. It was cancelled on the ground that the petitioner did not possess the graduate service qualification as stipulated under Rule 44A in Chapter XIV(A) of KER. The Director of General Education (2nd respondent) also refused to consider the appeal filed by the petitioner. Subsequently, the petitioner filed a statutory revision before the State Government(4th respondent), and filed a writ petition against the order of the 2nd respondent. It is the case of the petitioner that the said writ petition was finally disposed, directing the disposal of the statutory revision by the 4th respondent. Thereafter, all the parties were heard by the Joint Secretary of the Government, however, the revision filed by the petitioner was dismissed. It is on being aggrieved by the same that the petitioner has filed the present writ petition. Arguments RaisedIt was argued by Advocate S. Abdul Razzak on behalf of the petitioner that the order cancelling her appointment had been passed without giving her an opportunity of hearing. It was submitted that the only reason cited for doing so was that the petitioner did not possess the graduate service qualification as stipulated under Rule 44A in Chapter XIV(A) of KER. The petitioner pointed out that as per explanation-I of Rule 44A Chapter of XIV(A) of KER, graduate service referred to “acquisition of collegiate training such as B.T/L.T or B.Ed”. It was thus stated that as per Rule 2 of Chapter XXXI of KER, Acharya of Kerala Hindi Prachar Sabha with a pass in SSLC examination...

[Kerala Education Rules] Acharya Certificate Issued By Hindi Prachar Sabha Can Be Treated As Collegiate Training Such As B.Ed: High Court

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