Gauhati HC sets aside office memorandum on school languages

The Gauhati High Court today set aside an office memorandum of the Assam government restricting candidates not having Bengali, Hindi and Assamese subjects in the class X board examinations from applying in schools having these languages as their medium.

Justice Arup Kumar Goswami after hearing a batch of writ petitions filed by several TET-qualified candidates for the post of Hindi graduate teachers set aside Clause 4 of the office memorandum dated July, 14, 2016 issued by the state principal secretary.

The writ petitions were filed contending that although all petitioners had educational qualifications and also are TET qualified for Hindi graduate teachers for high schools, the state government had imposed a condition that no candidate can apply in the Bengali/Hindi/Assamese medium schools if they did not have these subjects respectively in HSLC Examination.

The petitioners also contended that as per Rule 10 of the Assam Secondary Education (Provincialised) Service Rule, a candidate is required to appear and pass in TET examinations conducted by the state government with 60 per cent marks in general category and 55 per cent marks in the case of reserved categories to qualify for appearing for the post of graduate teacher in Hindi Subject.

Justice Goswami after hearing all the writ petitions and also considering several decisions passed by the apex court on the issue of overriding the statutory rules or rules framed under the Proviso to Article 309 of the Constitution by an executive order is not sustainable in law and accordingly set aside the Clause 4 of the office memorandum.

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