SL. No. Dat e Of f ice Not es, r ep or t s, or d er s or p r oceed in g s or d ir ect ion s an d Reg ist r ar ’s or d er w it h Sig n at u r es COURT’S OR JUDGE’S ORDERS W PSS 1 9 8 6 / 2 0 2 5 Hon ’ble Man oj Ku m ar Tiw ar i, J. Mr. Sanjay Bhatt, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. Ganesh Datt Kandpal, Deputy AG, for the State. (2) Petitioner is serving as Teacher in a private unaided school within Uttarakhand State. She obtained D.El.Ed. qualification through distance mode from NIOS, which, according to the petitioner, is equivalent to D.El.Ed. obtained through regular mode. The grievance raised by the petitioner here is that in sim ilar circumstances, persons appointed as Siksha Mitra in government schools have been given benefit regarding age by providing that their eligibility as regards their age shall be seen on the date of their initial appointment as Siksha Mitra, while persons like the petitioner, who served in private unaided schools all through, their eligibility regarding age shall be seen with reference to the date on which they subm it application pursuant to the advertisement issued in the month of November, 2025. (3) Petitioner submits that since D.El.Ed. qualification holders, who have obtained such qualification through distance mode, has been made eligible for appointment as Assistant Teacher in Government Primary Schools, therefore they are at par with Siksha Mitra, who were appointed in Government Schools against available vacancies. (4) Petitioner’s date of birth is 1.12.1978, therefore, she completed 47 years and one month on 1.7.2025, which is the cut off date fixed in the advertisement for determ ining age. The upper age lim it fixed for OBC candidates is 42 years, therefore learned Counsel for the petitioner submits that petitioner is overage by about one year and seven months. He submits that having regard to the aforesaid facts and circumstances, petitioner is entitled to age relaxation. (5) This Court cannot issue a direction to grant relaxation in upper age, as that decision has to be taken by the State Government, as per the applicable rules. Since under the rules, State Government has the authority to grant relaxation in appropriate cases, writ petition is disposed of with liberty to the petitioner to make representation to the State Government. If she makes representation within one week from today, decision thereupon shall be taken by the competent authority in the State Government within six weeks thereafter. (6) Since the last date of submitting application pursuant to advertisement is about to come to an end, therefore, petitioner shall be at liberty to submit her application in the meantime. ( Man oj Ku m ar Tiw ar i, J.) 2 0 .1 1 .2 0 2 5 Pr PRABODH KUMAR Digitally signed by PRABODH KUMAR DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, 2.5.4.20=3a082a00a95aff911a9559743af8f21c50602ff6eae4e61af3aea b198d462503, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND, serialNumber=0DC111E8D8CA66E16B940EFDF806ACCC1AB588052D F6FCA58C67F3C91957BE53, cn=PRABODH KUMAR Date: 2025.11.21 10:16:06 +05'30'