SC dismisses plea of TN self-financing teaching institutes

New Delhi (PTI): Hopes of over 5,000 aspiring teachers, studying in various self-financing institutes of Tamil Nadu, to appear in state government-conducted Teachers Training exams 2007-2008 were on Friday dashed as the Supreme Court rejected a plea on the matter.
A bench of Justices B N Aggrawal and G S Singhvi dismissed an application filed by All India Private Educational Institution Association questioning the validity of a notification issued by the state government fixing the cut-off date for deciding the candidates' eligibility to appear at the exams.
As per the cut-off date fixed by the government only those candidates who took admission these institutions prior to June 2007 were eligible to appear in the exam.
But about 60-odd institutes imparting training for the teachers course reportedly enrolled students even after the expiry of the cut-off date. The state government on its part disqualified those students, who took admission after June 2007, from appearing in the exam.
The association a conglomerate of the aggrieved institutes challenged the restriction imposed by the State before the Madras High Court which dismissed their plea following which they filed the special leave petition before the apex court.
In the apex court, the association pleaded that the State Government's decision would affect the lives of 5,000 students and the state be directed to conduct supplementary exams for the aggrieved candidates.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
www.hindu.com