Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 12: In a significant order, Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Sudhanshu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya and Justice S A Bobde has upheld the judgment passed by the Division Bench of Jammu and Kashmir High Court regarding the constitutional validity of ReT Scheme vis-à-vis the girl married to another village or town and a girl actually residing in that village or habitation.
The Division Bench of State High Court while setting aside the judgment of Single Judge had concluded that ReT Scheme insists on appointment of a local candidate so that he/she is available to the student community with least difficulty and the teacher is left with no excuse to stay away from duty.
The DB was of the view that the expression belongs to the village is to be understood in the background of the role ReT is expected to play and a duty placed on Village Level Committee to draw up a panel of eligible qualified persons from the village having regard to the purposes of the scheme.
“The right of consideration for ReT position is linked with actual residence/habitation in village and no birth in such village/habitation or any other like connection with the village”, the DB said in the order, adding “for a girl married in other village or town it would not be possible to perform the duties of ReT conceptualized under the scheme in her parental village in manner such duties would be performed by candidates actually residing in that village though she may have emotional bonds with her parental village”.
The view of the Single Judge to the extent that a candidate not actually residing in the village would be eligible for ReT for such village only because he/she has some kind of connection with the village was upset by the DB comprising Chief Justice M M Kumar and Justice Hasnain Massodi for being untenable for the simple reason that such a view offends the scheme.
Accordingly, the LPA preferred by Sunita Rajput was allowed and the writ court order was set-aside by the DB with the directions to the respondents to engage Sunita Rajput as ReT in Middle School Babliana against the vacancy that became available in the wake of quashment of the order.
Accordingly, in compliance to the DB order Sunita Rajput was engaged as ReT teacher. However, feeling aggrieved over this Renu Manhas filed SLP in the Supreme Court, which dismissed the same upholding the judgement passed by the DB.
Senior Advocate Sunil Sethi along with Advocate Sumit Singh and Advocate P D Sharma appeared for the petitioners and Advocates Raj Shekhar Rao and Wasim Sadiq Nargal appeared on behalf of respondent (Sunita Rajput). Ashok Mathur along with Shilpa Dutta appeared on behalf of the State Government.
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