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Judgment
Deepak Gupta, C.J.—The short question involved in this petition is whether the petitioner has qualified the Class-XII examination and is, therefore, entitled to get admission in the first year B.Sc. (Hon''s) Agricultural Course at the College of Agriculture, Lembucherra in the current academic session as an in-service candidate against the seat reserved for Scheduled Caste.
At the outset, it may be stated that it is not disputed that the petitioner belongs to the Scheduled Caste community and is an in service candidate. The petitioner had passed the Madhyamik (10th standard) examination from the Tripura Board of Secondary Education in the year 1995. He cleared the Higher Secondary (10 + 2 stage) examination from the Tripura Board of Secondary Education in the year 2000. He, however, had not done science in the Class-XII examination. He thereafter obtained B. Com degree from the Tripura University in the year 2006.
The petitioner was appointed as an Agriculture Assistant in the Directorate of Agriculture, Govt. of Tripura w.e.f. 10th July, 2012. He realized that if he wanted to be promoted in service he would have to get higher qualification in science stream. He, therefore, enrolled in the National University of Open Schooling which is an autonomous body run by the Government of India for clearing the senior secondary school examination (+2 stage) in Science group on 19th February, 2013. He appeared in the examinations in July-2013 and April-2014 and was declared successful. He thus claims to have Science qualification in Class-XII examination. He applied for selection as in-service candidate for the seat meant for Scheduled Caste in the B.Sc. (Hons) Agriculture Course at Agriculture College, Lembucherra for the academic session 2014 - 15. It is not disputed that he is the only candidate belong to the scheduled caste.
The State did not permit the petitioner to appear for counseling on the ground that the mark sheet produced by him is not equivalent to Higher Secondary (+ 2 stage) examination. One of the grounds raised is that the petitioner had taken admission in the Class-XII course prior to his obtaining permission from the employer and the second ground is that the course in question is not of two years duration since the petitioner admittedly joined the course on 19th February, 2013 and cleared the course in April, 2014. The respondents relied upon a letter of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). The relevant portion of the letter reads as follows:
"****5. The course is of 2 years duration e.g. if a student has passed class X in 2014, he can only passed Class XII in 2016.
As above is true, hence the Class XII certificate of NIOS is at par to class XII certificate of other Board."
As far as the first objection of the State is concerned, we are of the considered view that once the State has granted permission to the petitioner to continue in the course now the State cannot turn around and argue that since the petitioner had joined the course without it''s permission he is not qualified. When the State has granted permission, it obviously means it has condoned the action of the petitioner in joining the course without informing his superiors.
As far as second objection regarding two years course is concerned, we are of the considered view that this objection is baseless. What is stated in the letter quoted above is that the course is of two years duration and if a student has passed Class-X in 2014, he can pass Class-XII only in 2016. Thus, there should be two years gap between the Class-X and XII. In the present case, the petitioner had passed Class-X in 1995. He had already qualified Class-XII in humanities group and had also done B.Com. He joined the course in February, 2013 and passed about 1� years later in April/May, 2014. In the same letter it is clearly stated that the Class-XII certificate of National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) is at par to Class-XII certificate of any other board and it has been recommended that admission be granted to the petitioner.
We are clearly of the view that the petitioner is duly qualified to get admission in the first year B.Sc. (Hon''s) Agricultural Course at the College of Agriculture, Lembucherra. We therefore, allow the petition and direct the respondents to grant admission to the petitioner against the seat meant for in-service Scheduled Caste candidate. We may point out that one seat in the B. Sc. (Hons) has been kept vacant vide our order dated 26th September, 2014 and, therefore, there should be no difficulty in accommodating the petitioner.
The petitioner is directed to approach the College with a copy of this order within one week from today and he shall be granted admission in the College on the basis of this judgment.
The writ petition is disposed of in the aforesaid terms. No order as to costs.