Certificates Have Not Been Declared A Nullity By Competent Examination Board : Allahabad HC Reinstates Teacher Who Underwent Two Degree Courses Simultaneously
|The Allahabad High Court has observed that a person cannot be terminated from services unless the multiple high school certificates and overlapping degrees are declared null and void by a competent Examination Board or found to be forged or fabricated at the time of the appointment.
An Appeal was preferred against the judgment passed by a Single Judge whereby the order passed by the District Basic Education Officer was set aside. The said order terminated the services of the Respondent herein because she had obtained the certificate of High School and Intermediate, twice, and overlapping degrees of B.A. and B.Sc. and B.T.C. and M.Sc.
The Division Bench of Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Anish Kumar Gupta relied on the view taken by Allahabad High Court in The Basic Education Board, U.P. Prayagraj and Another vs. Laxmi Shankar Yadav (2022)and observed, “In the instant case, though in the inquiry conducted by the Block Education Officer under the dictate of the District Basic Education Officer, it is found that the petitioner/respondent no.1 has undergone two educational courses simultaneously. However, none of them have been declared a nullity by the competent Examination Board. Rather, the certificates which have been used by the petitioner/respondent no.1 have been found to be genuine on verification by the concerned Examination Body. Unless, the same is declared, null and void by the competent Examination Body, the services of petitioner/respondent no.1 cannot be terminated on the aforesaid ground as has been observed by the Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Laxmi Shanker Yadav (Supra).”
Advocate Manvendra Singh appeared for the Appellant while CSC Siddharth Khare appeared for the Respondents.
The question that arose before the Court was whether a person can be permitted to pursue two regular courses of the High School and Intermediate as well as at the Graduation and Post Graduation level in one session.
The Court relied on Chapter XII of the Regulation issued under the Uttar Pradesh Intermediate Education Act, 1921, and the judgment of the Apex Court in Kuldeep Kumar Pathak Vs. State of U.P. & others (2016) and held, “…By no stretch of imagination it can be concluded that a person can appear in High School and Intermediate Examination twice simultaneously…If any documents have been recorded in the Board's Examination, the same shall be deleted and if any candidate appears in violation of such condition, his/her result shall be cancelled and the candidates shall be wholly responsible for the same. In view of the aforesaid statutory regulatory framework with regard to High School and Intermediate examinations no candidate can appear simultaneously in two examinations from two different institutions. If he/she appears in such a manner, the result thereof even if declared shall be cancelled.”
As regards the present case, the Court said, “However, the exercise of declaring result as a nullity of a candidate who appeared in two simultaneous examinations, is to be done by the Examination Board concerned. Likewise, in the case of higher education through a person was prohibited from undertaking two regular courses simultaneously prior to April 2022, however, if any such person has undergone such examination the same could be cancelled only by the Examination Body and merely because a person is having two degree and certificates simultaneously, on the basis of the same his/her employment cannot be terminated on this ground unless the certificates, which have been produced by such candidate at the time of his/her appointment are found to be forged, fabricated or declared a nullity by the competent Examination Board.”
Accordingly, the Court dismissed the appeal and directed the Appellant to permit the Respondent to discharge her duties in the post she was appointed, the payment of salary with continuity in service and all consequential benefits.
Cause Title: a and Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2024:AHC:94194-DB)
Appearances:
Appellant: Advocates Manvendra Singh, Prabhakar Awasthi and Vijay Kumar Maurya
Respondents: CSC Siddharth Khare