Uttarakhand High CourtWPPIL/46/2021 on 22 September, 2021IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND\n                           AT NAINITAL\n\n\n       THE HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI RAGHVENDRA SINGH\n                            CHAUHAN\n\n                                   AND\n\n           THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE ALOK KUMAR VERMA\n\n                WRIT PETITION (PIL) No. 46 OF 2021\n\n                     22ND SEPTEMBER, 2021\n   Between:\n\n   Anu Pant                                             ...Petitioner\n   and\n   State of Uttarakhand and another.                 ...Respondents\n\n   Counsel for the petitioner: Mr. Abhijay Negi, learned\n                             counsel.\n   Counsel for the respondents: Mr.   S.N.   Babulkar,\n                                learned       Advocate\n                                General with Mr. C.S.\n                                Rawat, learned Chief\n                                Standing Counsel for\n                                the      State      of\n                                Uttarakhand.\n\n\n   The Court made the following:\n\n\nJUDGMENT :(per Hon'ble The Chief Justice Sri Raghvendra Singh Chauhan)\n\n\n\n                The present PIL has been filed seeking a\n\n  direction from this Court to the respondents to extend\n\n  the last date for submission of the applications for the\n\n  post of Assistant Teacher, L.T. Grade.2.            By order dated 17.09.2021, this Court had\n\n  directed Ms. Radhika Jha, the learned Secretary,\n\n  Elementary Education, to appear before this Court1through      video-conferencing.        Consequently,          Ms.\n\nRadhika Jha has appeared before this Court today\n\nthrough video-conferencing.3.           According     to   the     petitioner,     different\n\nadvertisements      were    published       by    ten   different\n\ndistricts of the State declaring the vacancies, which\n\nhad arisen on the post of Assistant Teacher, L.T.\n\nGrade. In most of the districts, the last date for\n\nsubmission of the applications was 21.01.2021.4.           One of the requirements to become eligible\n\nwas passing CTET examination, or TET examination.\n\nAccording to the petitioner, although originally the\n\nCTET examination was scheduled to be held on\n\n05.07.2020, but, due to the raging pandemic, the said\n\nexamination could not be held till 31.01.2021.             Since\n\nthe above advertisement had given the last date for\n\nsubmission     of   the    applications      as    21.01.2021,\n\nobviously there were many candidates, who could not\n\napply for the said post, as they did not have the\n\nbenefit of having taken the CTET examination by the\n\nlast date of submission of application.5.           Moreover,     there      was   another      set    of\n\ncandidates, who could not take the TET examination till\n\n30.04.2021. Therefore, according to the petitioner, all2those candidates-on the one hand, who had appeared\n\nfor taking the CTET examination, and on the other\n\nhand those who had appeared in the TET examination,\n\ncould not apply for the post of Assistant Teacher, L.T.\n\nGrade. Hence, the present petition for extending the\n\nlast date for submission of the applications for the said\n\npost.6.         This Court has asked Ms. Radhika Jha, the\n\nlearned Secretary, as to the possibility of extending\n\nthe last date for submission of the applications for the\n\nsaid post. According to her, there are presently 2648\n\nvacancies, which exist in ten different districts, where\n\nthe posts have been advertised.          Moreover, primary\n\nschools have commenced their academic years.               Yet,\n\nmost of these schools are saddled with vacant posts.\n\nTherefore, it is imperative that these vacancies should\n\nbe filled-up as expeditiously as possible.7.         Secondly,    for       the   large    numbers     of\n\nvacancies, the State has already received a large\n\nnumber of applications in the month of January, 2021\n\nitself. It takes about four months to process these\n\napplications, and the process is over.          Therefore, the\n\nDepartment already has a list of eligible candidates,\n\nwho can be permitted to take the examination, and to3participate in the selection process. In case, another\n\nset of applications is now to be accepted, it will further\n\ndelay the selection process, thereby jeopardizing the\n\ninterest of the students, who will continue to attend\n\nthe schools without teachers.8.          Thirdly, there may be candidates, who had\n\napplied earlier and they wish to apply again as they\n\nhave improved in the CTET examination held in 2021.\n\nThis would further complicate the situation.        As the\n\ndistricts   may   have   to   deal    with   two   different\n\napplications filed by the same person. Therefore,\n\ndealing with and sorting out the applications may be a\n\ncomplicated affair.9.          Fourthly, receiving the applications and\n\nvetting them is not online.          It is done manually.\n\nTherefore, it will take a longer time to vet through a\n\nlarge number of applications, in case the last date for\n\nsubmission of the applications were to be extended.10.         Fifthly, there is a great possibility that after\n\ntwo months, the model code of conduct is clamped\n\ndown as the State is about to enter its next Legislative\n\nAssembly Election.411.         Lastly, already the Department has 451\n\nvacancies for the post of Assistant Teachers, which,\n\naccording    to   the    learned    Secretary,   would   be\n\nadvertised within a period of two months. Therefore,\n\nthose candidates, who have been left out and are\n\nunable to apply for the 2648 vacancies, would have an\n\nample opportunity to apply for the 451 posts, once\n\nthey are advertised by the Department.           Therefore,\n\nshe humbly prays that the last date for submission of\n\nthe applications should not be extended by this Court.12.         On the other hand, Mr. Abhijay Negi, the\n\nlearned counsel for the petitioner, submits that firstly,\n\non the last occasion, when the former Secretary,\n\nPrimary     Education,    namely,     Mr.   R.   Meenakshi\n\nSundaram, had appeared, he had stated that it takes\n\none month's time for the Department to process the\n\napplications.13.         Secondly, those who have been left out and\n\ncould not take CTET / TET examination, for no fault of\n\ntheir own, would continue to be unemployed without\n\nany hope of getting an opportunity in near future.\n\nThus, equal opportunity of public employment should\n\nbe extended to this group of candidates.514.         Thirdly, the 451 vacancies, which do exist\n\npresently, may not cover the ten districts, where the\n\nadvertisement has already been issued. Therefore, all\n\ncandidates would be deprived of equal opportunity to\n\ncompete.    Hence, the learned counsel prays that the\n\nlast date for submission of the applications should be\n\nextended, at least by five to ten days in order to\n\npermit these candidates, who have completed their\n\nCTET / TET examination, to submit their applications\n\nfor the said post.15.         Heard,    Mr.   Abhijay         Negi,       the     learned\n\ncounsel for the petitioner, and Ms. Radhika Jha, the\n\nlearned Secretary.16.         Admittedly,     there        are      2648        vacancies\n\nexisting   in   ten   different       districts    of    the     State.\n\nUndoubtedly, the primary schools have commenced\n\ntheir academic session.       It is a common knowledge\n\nthat the academic session has already been postponed\n\ndue to the pandemic from the months of June-July to\n\nSeptember-October. What is of paramount importance\n\nbefore this Court would be the interest of the students,\n\nwho have already joined their Schools.              Naturally, the\n\nstudents cannot be left unattended and untaught.6Therefore, it is imperative that these large number of\n\nvacancies should be filled-up as expeditiously as\n\npossible without any further delay.17.         By   not   extending    the   last   date   of\n\nsubmission of the applications, it is not that the\n\ncandidates will be deprived of their right of equal\n\nopportunity of public employment.         For the equal\n\nopportunity will continue to exist as according to the\n\nlearned Secretary, there are 451 vacancies that do\n\nexist, and which shall be advertised in the near future.18.         It is, indeed, trite to state that when\n\nselection process begins and a last date for submission\n\nof applications is given, there is always a Class, which\n\nmay miss the mark, because on the last date for\n\nsubmission of the applications, they do not have the\n\nrequisite eligibility criteria. Therefore, there is always\n\na class of people, which would be left out from\n\napplying for the said post. But, merely because they\n\nare left out, they cannot claim that they have a right to\n\nhave the last date of submission of the applications\n\nextended.719.           Although it is true that those candidates\n\ncould not complete their CTET examination prior to\n\n21.01.2021, for no fault of their own, nevertheless\n\nthey continue to have an opportunity to compete for\n\nthe vacancies that would arise.20.           Therefore, keeping in mind the paramount\n\nimportance of the interest of the students, keeping in\n\nmind   that    the   Schools   must   not   function   with\n\nvacancies, keeping in mind that it is imperative that\n\nthe entire teaching staff is readily available for the\n\nefficient running of Schools, this Court is of the opinion\n\nthat the last date for submission of the applications\n\ncannot be extended any further. Therefore, this Court\n\ndoes not find any merit in the present PIL.21.           However, as the learned Secretary has\n\nalready informed this Court that there 451 vacancies\n\ndo exist, and since there is a possibility that model\n\ncode of conduct may be imposed by December, 2021,\n\nthis Court directs the learned Secretary to advertise\n\nthe 451 vacancies on or before 20.10.2021 so as to\n\ngive a chance to those candidates, who have passed\n\nthe CTET examination on 31.01.2021, and to give a\n\nchance to those candidates, who have passed their TET8examination on 30.4.2021 to compete for all these 451\n\nvacancies.22.          With   these   directions,   the   PIL   stands\n\ndisposed of._____________________________\n               RAGHVENDRA SINGH CHAUHAN, C.J.___________________\n                                  ALOK KUMAR VERMA, J.Dt: 22nd September, 2021\nRathour9