The Supreme Court has asked the Uttarakhand Government to consider the plea of applicants holding 18-month D.El.Ed. qualification from the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to participate in the ongoing counselling process for the post of Assistant Teacher in Primary Schools

The applicants had approached the Apex Court seeking a direction to the respondent to permit the applicants who are holding the 18-month D.El.Ed. qualification from the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) under the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) mode to participate in the ongoing counselling process and to subsequently be appointed to the vacant posts in the ongoing recruitment.

The Division Bench comprising Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice Augustine George Masih ordered, “We, therefore, direct the State Government to consider the claim of the applicants in accordance with the clarification dated 10th December 2024 and if the applicants are found to be eligible, to appoint them in accordance with law. The same shall be done within a period of three months from today.”

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan represented the Appellant while AOR Vanshaja Shukla represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The State of Uttarakhand issued district-wise advertisements for the post of Assistant Teachers in Primary Schools in accordance with the Uttarakhand Government Elementary Education (Teacher) Service Rules, 2012 which provided that to be eligible to be appointed as teacher, it was necessary to have a diploma course of two years or equivalent. Initially, the Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand issued a letter to the Director, Elementary Education, Uttarakhand to permit such candidates who passed 18 months D.El.Ed. diploma of NIOS through ODL Mode to apply for the post of Assistant Teachers (Primary) against vacancies issued through the aforementioned district-wise advertisements.

However, upon realizing that the 2012 Rules did not recognize the 18 months D.El.Ed. diploma through ODL Mode from NIOS as a minimum qualification for eligibility, the Government issued another communication withdrawing its earlier letter. The aforesaid communication was challenged before the Uttarakhand High Court and it was held that the 18 months D.El.Ed. training/diploma conducted through the ODL Mode by NIOS cannot be said to be a lower or inferior qualification as compared with the 2-year D.El.Ed. programme and the same was valid for applying against the post of Assistant Teacher (Primary) in the State of Uttarakhand.

Challenging the aforesaid judgment, a batch of appeals came to be filed before the Apex Court. It was then held that a period of 18 months had been prescribed in order to meet the deadline for the appointment of teachers as specified under Section 23(2) of the Right to Education Act. Noticing how this was a one-time opportunity to ensure that in-service teachers remained in service, it was held that it would not be equivalent to the two-year diploma which is the requisite qualification.Aggrieved thereby, the applicants approached the Apex Court.

Reasoning

On a perusal of the facts of the case and the past litigations, the Bench held that the applicant’s case was covered by the judgment of the Apex Court pronounced in Viswanath and Others v. The State of Uttarakhand and Others on December 10, 2024, whereby it was held that the 18 months diploma obtained by such persons, who were in employment as on August 10, 2017 and who have completed the diploma course of 18 months, would be treated as valid diploma holders for the purpose of applying in other institutions or for promotional avenues.

“Indisputably, the ‘other institutions’ would also include the schools run by the State Governments”, it said.

The Bench thus directed the State Government to consider the claim of the applicants. The Apex Court disposed of the Petition by further ordering, “We further clarify that while doing so, the State Government would not reopen the selection already conducted, which has reached finality.”

Cause Title: Vishwanath v. The State of Uttarakhand And Others (Neutral Citation: 2025 INSC 365)

Appearance:

Applicants: Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Sr. Adv. Mr. AOR Mandeep Kalra, Advocates Vaibhav Yadav, Anushna Satapathy, Radhika Jalan, Yashas J, Widaphi Lyngdoh, Anchita Nayyar, Shefali Tripathi,Tushar Shrivastava, Shourya Dasgupta

Respondents: AOR Vanshaja Shukla, Advocates Ankeeta Appanna, Ajay Bahuguna, Arun Kumar, Abhinav Kumar

Click here to read/download Judgment




Justice BR GavaiJustice Augustine George Masih

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.