Upholding a Tamil Nadu G.O. of December 2009 relating to diploma certificates in education obtained from the Board of Karnataka, the Madras High Court has directed the State government to consider whether or not the D. Ed. course done by 10 persons in the neighbouring State was equivalent to the Tamil Nadu diploma course.
This was in view of a peculiar situation, the court said.
Justice T. Raja passed the order on writ petitions filed by A. Sumia and others.
They joined D. Ed. in 2008-2009 in Karnataka, which had been recognised by the National Council for Teacher Education, and successfully completed their first-year course. They were about to write the second-year examination in August 2010 when Tamil Nadu issued the G.O, dated December 3, 2009.
In the G.O., the government said D. Ed. certificates from the Board of Karnataka from the academic year 2008-2009 would not be evaluated. The certificates of students admitted during 2007-2008 alone would be considered. This was because Tamil Nadu had changed the syllabus for D. Ed. It had been implemented from 2008-09, but students of D. Ed. obtained in Karnataka had studied under the 2002 syllabus. When the G.O. was issued, the government gave restrospective effect to it for students who had already been admitted to diploma-level teacher education institutions in Karnataka from 2008-09. As a result, the petitioners were affected.
The Tamil Nadu government submitted that the G.O. was meant to achieve high quality education.
Mr. Justice Raja said he was in agreement with the entirety of the G.O. It was introduced in December 2009. However, refusal of evaluation certificates to candidates who had obtained diploma certificates in other States after 2008-2009 could not be accepted. This was mainly because the G.O. issued with retrospective effect prejudiced the rights of the petitioners. When the G.O. was issued, all the petitioners had completed their first year and joined the second year. They had also completed the course within eight months of the date of the G.O.
