TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2011 (5) TMI 302
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....roughout the country and for regulation and proper maintenance of norms and standards in the teacher education system and for matters connected therewith, Parliament enacted the Act for the establishment of a Council to be called the National Council for Teacher Education (for short, "the NCTE") with multifarious functions, powers and duties. Section 2(c) of the Act defines the term "Council" to mean a Council established under sub-section (1) of Section 3. Section 2(i) defines the term "recognised institution" to mean an institution recognised under Section 14. Section 2(j) defines the term "Regional Committee" to mean a Committee established under Section 20. Section 3 provides for establishment of the Council which comprises of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson, a Member-Secretary, various functionaries of the Government, thirteen persons possessing experience and knowledge in the field of education or teaching, nine members representing the States and Union Territories Administration, three members of Parliament, three members to be appointed from amongst teachers of primary and secondary education and teachers of recognised institutions. Section 12 of the Act enumerates functi....
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....y- (a) undertake surveys and studies relating to various aspects of teacher education and publish the result thereof; (b) make recommendations to the Central and State Governments, Universities, University Grants Commission and recognised institutions in the matter of preparation of suitable plans and programmes in the field of teacher education; (c) coordinate and monitor teacher education and its development in the country; (d) lay down guidelines in respect of minimum qualifications for a person to be employed as a teacher in schools or in recognised institutions; (e) lay down norms for any specified category of courses or training in teacher education, including the minimum eligibility criteria for admission thereof, and the method of selection of candidates, duration of the course, course contents and mode of curriculum; (f) lay down guidelines for compliance by recognised institutions, for starting new courses or training and for providing physical and instructional facilities, staffing pattern and staff qualifications; (g) xxx xxx xxx (h) xxx xxx xxx (i) xxx xxx xxx (j) examine and review periodi....
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.... session next following the date of receipt of the order refusing recognition passed under clause (b) of sub-section (3). (6) Every examining body shall, on receipt of the order under sub-section (4),- (a) grant affiliation to the institution, where recognition has been granted; or (b) cancel the affiliation of the institution, where recognition has been refused. 15. Permission for a new course or training by recognised institution.- (1) Where any recognised institution intends to start any new course or training in teacher education, it may make an application to seek permission therefor to the Regional Committee concerned in such form and in such manner as may be determined by regulations. (2) The fees to be paid along with the application under sub-section (1) shall be such as may be prescribed. (3) On receipt of an application from an institution under sub-section (1), and after obtaining from the recognised institution such other particulars as may be considered necessary, the Regional Committee shall,- (a) if it is satisfied that such recognised institution has adequate financial resources, accommodation, library, qualified sta....
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....ever, in order to cover the inadvertent omissions or deficiencies in documents, the office of the Regional Committee shall point out the deficiencies within 30 days of receipt of the applications, which the applicants shall remove within 90 days. No application shall be processed if the processing fees of Rs.40,000/- is not submitted and such applications would be returned to the applicant institutions. (2) Simultaneously, on receipt of application, a written communication alongwith a copy of the application form submitted by the institution(s) shall be sent by the office of Regional Committees to the State Government/U.T. Administration concerned. (3) On receipt of the communication, the State Government/UT Administration concerned shall furnish its recommendations on the applications to the office of the Regional Committee concerned of the National Council for Teacher Education within 60 days from receipt. If the recommendation is negative, the State Government/UT Administration shall provide detailed reasons/grounds thereof with necessary statistics, which shall be taken into consideration by the Regional Committee concerned while deciding the application. If no communi....
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....shall then issue a formal recognition order that shall be notified as per provision of the NCTE Act. (12) xxx xxx xxx (13) xxx xxx xxx 8. Conditions for grant of recognition (1) An institution must fulfill all the prescribed conditions related to norms and standards as prescribed by the NCTE for conducting the course or training in teacher education. These norms, inter alia, cover conditions relating to financial resources, accommodation, library, laboratory, other physical infrastructure, qualified staff including teaching and non-teaching personnel, etc. (2) In the first instance, an institution shall be considered for grant of recognition for only one course for the basic unit as prescribed in the norms & standards for the particular teacher education programme. An institution can apply for one basic unit of an additional course from the subsequent academic session. However, application for not more than one additional course can be made in a year. (3) xxx xxx xxx (4) xxx xxx xxx (5) xxx xxx xxx (6) xxx xxx xxx (7) No institution shall be granted recognition under these regulations unless it is in possessio....
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....of trained teachers may encourage establishment of new institutions for teacher education and to increase intake capacity for various levels of teacher education institutions keeping in view the requirements of teachers estimated for the next 10-15 years. 3. Preference might be given to institutions which tend to emphasise the preparation of teachers for subjects (such as Science, Mathematics, English, etc.) for which trained teachers have been in short supply in relation to requirement of schools. 4. Apart from the usual courses for teacher preparation, institutions which propose to concern themselves with new emerging specialities (e.g. computer education, use of electronic media, guidance and counselling, etc.) should receive priority. Provisions for these should, however, be made only after ensuring that requisite manpower, equipment and infrastructure are available. These considerations will also be kept in view by the institution intending to provide for optional subjects to be chosen by students such as guidance and counselling, special education, etc. 5. With a view to ensuring supply of qualified and trained teachers for such specialities such as ed....
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....ion, i.e. Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa. On receipt of complaints that grave irregularities were committed by WRC, Bhopal in granting recognition/permission, the Central Government (Ministry of Human Resource Development) in exercise of the power vested in it under Section 29 of the Act issued order dated 21.8.2007 and directed WRC, Bhopal not to grant recognition to any institution/course till a comprehensive review was undertaken. On 23.8.2007, the Central Government constituted three member Committee headed by Ms. Anita Kaul, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development to conduct an in-depth inquiry into the working of WRC, Bhopal. In its report, the Committee highlighted the irregularities committed by WRC, Bhopal in granting recognition to various institutions in the States of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat without taking into consideration the views of the concerned State Governments. After considering the report of the Committee, the Central Government issued the following directions to the NCTE: "(a) The WRC, Bhopal will process all pending applications ensuring, however, that it scrupulously takes into account the views of the St....
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....ent of trained teachers in the State. In the cases of Rajarshi Sahoo Chatrapati Education Society, Jagruti Shikshan Sanstha and Navyuvak Shikshan Mandal, letters of intent were issued, but final recognition was not granted under Section 14 of the Act read with Regulation 8(12) of 2007 Regulations. The appeal filed by Navyuvak Sikshan Mandal under Section 18 of the Act was dismissed by the appellate Authority. 9. In the meanwhile, respondent Nos.6 and 7 filed writ petition questioning the exercise undertaken by WRC, Bhopal for grant of recognition to over 290 institutions. They alleged that recognition has been granted in total disregard of the provisions of the Act and the Regulations and that the views of the State Government were completely ignored. The Division Bench of the High Court, after an in-depth examination of the record produced before it and the relevant statutory provisions, quashed the recognitions granted by WRC, Bhopal. 10. Although, the appellants were not at all affected by the order of the Division Bench of the High Court because they had not been granted recognition by WRC, Bhopal, they filed special leave petitions and prayed for setting aside ....
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....onstrate that on the date of filing the special leave petition, appellant Abhyudya Sanstha did not have recognition in terms of Section 14 read with Regulation 7(11). The position of the other appellants is no better. Three of them got letters of intent but none was granted recognition. We have no doubt that if the appellants had not misrepresented the facts and made wrong statement on the issue of their recognition by WRC, Bhopal, this Court would not have entertained the special leave petition, what to say of passing interim orders. 13. At the hearing, Shri Shekhar Naphade and Shri Ashok Srivastava, learned senior counsel appearing for some of the appellants fairly stated that their clients were not granted recognition by WRC, Bhopal and none of them was eligible to admit the students to D. Ed. course, but submitted that the Court may direct WRC, Bhopal to reconsider their applications for recognition and protect the students who got admission on the basis of allotment made by the State Government so that they may not face difficulty in getting employment on the basis of the degrees etc. awarded by the affiliating body. Learned senior counsel submitted that the statements....
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....s Court to entertain the special leave petitions and pass interim orders. The minimum, which can be said about the appellants is that they have not approached the Court with clean hands and succeeded in polluting the stream of justice by making patently false statement. Therefore, they are not entitled to relief under Article 136 of the Constitution. This view finds support from plethora of precedents. In Hari Narain v. Badri Das AIR 1963 SC 1558, G. Narayanaswamy Reddy v. Govt. of Karnataka (1991) 3 SCC 261 and large number of other cases, this Court denied relief to the petitioner/appellant on the ground that he had not approached the Court with clean hands. In Hari Narain v. Badri Das (supra), the Court revoked the leave granted to the appellant and observed: "It is of utmost importance that in making material statements and setting forth grounds in applications for special leave made under Article 136 of the Constitution, care must be taken not to make any statements which are inaccurate, untrue or misleading. In dealing with applications for special leave, the Court naturally takes statements of fact and grounds of fact contained in the petitions at their face ....
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.... of the consequences. However, post-Independence period has seen drastic changes in our value system. The materialism has overshadowed the old ethos and the quest for personal gain has become so intense that those involved in litigation do not hesitate to take shelter of falsehood, misrepresentation and suppression of facts in the court proceedings. In the last 40 years, a new creed of litigants has cropped up. Those who belong to this creed do not have any respect for truth. They shamelessly resort to falsehood and unethical means for achieving their goals. In order to meet the challenge posed by this new creed of litigants, the courts have, from time to time, evolved new rules and it is now well established that a litigant, who attempts to pollute the stream of justice or who touches the pure fountain of justice with tainted hands, is not entitled to any relief, interim or final." 17. The question which remains to be considered is whether the Court should direct regularisation of the admission of the students, who were allotted to the appellants by the State Government etc. pursuant to the directions given by this Court. Although, in the absence of cogent material....