Clerical spelling errors in DISE data name records cannot defeat eligibility for provincialisation of teacher services.

The petitioner was appointed as an Assistant Teacher at Pub Amlokhi A.S. Ahmedia L.P. School in 1999 and subsequently as Headmistress in 2000.

Despite fulfilling eligibility criteria and having her name in the DISE Data (District Information System for Education), her services were not provincialized.

In a previous proceeding, WP(C) No. 3854/2022, the Court found she met the three requirements for provincialization and directed the Director of Elementary Education to consider her case.

However, by an order dated December 5, 2024, the Director rejected her claim, asserting that her name did not appear in the DISE Data until 2012-13.

The discrepancy arose because her name was recorded as "Jinnatun Nehar" (with a 'J') in early records and "Zinnatun Nehar" (with a 'Z') in later years.

1. Whether the discrepancy in the spelling of the petitioner’s name in the DISE Data (“Jinnatun” vs “Zinnatun”) justified the rejection of her service provincialization.

2. Whether the petitioner fulfilled the mandatory requirements for provincialization as per the state policy and previous court directions.

The court applied the provincialization parameters established by the State Level Scrutiny Committee (SLSC), which require: (i) the school’s name to appear in DISE Data for 2009; (ii) the teacher’s name to appear in DISE Data for 2011 and afterward; and (iii) specific enrollment positions for 2016-17 and 2017-18.

The court also relied on the principle of administrative fairness, holding that minor clerical or spelling errors in official databases should not override substantive factual evidence of service and identity.

The court observed that the petitioner’s identity was established by the consistency of other data points: the school name (Pub Amlokhi A.S. Ahmedia L.P. School), the DISE Code (18100100115), and the geographical circle (Batadrava) remained identical across the years.

The court noted that the name "Jinnatun Nehar" appearing from 2009-12 and "Zinnatun Nehar" from 2013 onwards referred to the same individual in the same post.

Furthermore, the court criticized the respondent for attempting to relitigate facts already settled in the previous judgment (WP(C) No. 3854/2022), which had already affirmed that the petitioner met the three conditions for provincialization.

The court found the Director’s rejection to be factually incorrect and a failure to exercise proper verification.

The court allowed the writ petition, set aside the impugned order dated December 5, 2024, and directed the Director of Elementary Education (Respondent No. 2) to provincialise the petitioner's service forthwith, provided no other legal impediments exist, within one month of receiving the order.