Gauhati High Court sets aside time bar on NCTE recognition of institutes

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has held that under the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) Act, 1993, any deemed recognition is without any limitation or time bar when relevant conditions are met.

The court's ruling came in response to a Writ Petition filed by the Hindi Teachers Training College, North Guwahati, which has been functioning since 1996 and is the only teachers' training college of Hindi teachers who are serving in various Government schools of Assam. The petitioner institute had submitted before the court that they had applied before the authorities under the NCTE for grant of recognition for conducting the Hindi Shikshan Parangat course to the in-service Government teachers of the region in 2005. However, the Regional Director of the Eastern Regional Committee (ERC) of the NCTE had issued an order on October 21, 2008, refusing grant of recognition for conducting the Hindi Shikshan Parangat on the grounds that the institution had not submitted the list of teaching staff in the prescribed format, the total land area was less than the NCTE norms, and the building plan and the building completion certified approved from the competent authority were not submitted.

Meanwhile, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development issued a notification on May 12, 2020 by which, in exercise of the powers conferred by the second proviso to Sub-section (1) of Section 14 of the NCTE Act, 1993, it was specified the institutions funded by the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be, and accorded recognition retrospectively for certain courses and duration and the petitioner institute also found place in the list of such institutions.

The petitioner then submitted an appeal under Section 18 of the NCTE Act, 1993 before the NCTE Appellate Authority, New Delhi, against the earlier order of 2008 by which the ERC of the NCTE had refused recognition of the petitioner institute for conducting the Hindi Shikshan Parangat course. The appeal was, however, rejected on the ground that it was instituted 13 years after the order of 2008 and the norms and standards for teacher education programmes had changed in the years 2009 and 2014 and therefore, no recognition can be granted to the petitioner institute.

The High Court reasoned: "…The petitioner institute having been specified by the Central Government as per the notification dated 12.05.2020 in furtherance of the powers under the second proviso to Section 14(1) of the NCTE Act, 1993, it would have to be understood that there is a legal fiction created in favour of the petitioner institute that it is recognized by the Regional Committee of the NCTE or in other words, the law by itself had given the recognition to the petitioner institute. We have also examined the provisions of the second proviso to Section 14(1) of the NCTE Act, 1993, wherein the legal fiction of deemed recognition is provided. Under the provision of second proviso to Section 14(1) of the NCTE Act, 1993, the provision 'shall be deemed to have been recognized by the Regional Committee' itself is unconditional and not circumscribed to a limited period of time. The reference to the academic year 2017-18 that is available in clause (ii) of the second proviso, which is one of the conditions precedent that the courses in teacher education would have to be offered after the appointed day i.e. the date establishment of the NCTE till the year 2017-Any institute satisfying the said condition precedent would be entitled for a deemed recognition. Merely because the condition precedent to have a deemed recognition is the offering of teacher education course from the appointed day up to the year 2017-18, it cannot be understood that the recognition would also be only up to the year 2017-18, which would be more so as no such limitation or being circumscribed is provided in the provisions of the second proviso to Rule 14(1) of the NCTE Act, 1993. On the other hand, the provision of the second proviso is explicitly clear that it will be a deemed recognition without any limitation or being circumscribed up to a given duration, provided the three conditions are satisfied…

"In view of the above, we declare that the recognition to the petitioner institute as per the notification dated 12.05.2020 of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, has to be understood to be a recognition without any limit or duration mentioned therein. Accordingly, the petitioner institute shall be entitled to the benefits of recognition without it being circumscribed for any limited period."

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