- (1.) HEARD learned Counsel for the petitioner and Sri S. P. Sharma, learned Counsel for the respondent No. 4. By this writ petition, the petitioner has prayed for a writ of mandamus, directing the respondents to regularise the services of the petitioner on the post of assistant teacher.
(2.) THE petitioner claims to be appointed to 10. 10. 2004 as temporary assistant teacher by the respondent No. 2 which is an institution managed by Christian minority. The petitioners' case is that since the date of her appointment, she is performing her duties on consolidate salary. The service conditions of the petitioner are not governed by statutory rules nor the respondent Nos. 1 to 3 can be said to be authorities within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India. Learned Counsel for the petitioner contended that since the institution is imparting education, which is a public duty, a mandamus can very well be issued against the respondents. Learned Counsel for the petitioner in support of his submissions placed reliance on a Division Bench judgment of this Court in Dr. K. C. Charan v. Ashwin M. Singh and others, 2007 (2) ALJ 77. and the judgment of the Apex Court in the Shri Anadi Mukta Sadgnru Shree Muktajee Vandasjiswami Suvarna Jayanti Mahotsav Smarak Trust and others v. R. Rudani and others, AIR 1989 SC 1607.
(3.) THE judgment of the Apex Court in Shri Anadi Mnkta Sadgnru Shree Muktajee Vandasjiswami Suvarna Jayanti Mahotsav Smarak Trust (supra) has held that if the rights are purely of a private character no mandamus can be issued. Following was laid down in paragraph 14 of the aforesaid judgment : "14. If the rights are purely of a private character no mandamus can issue. If the management of the college is purely a private body with no public duty mandamus will not lie. These are two exceptions to mandamus. But once these are absent and when the party has no other equally convenient remedy, mandamus cannot be denied. It has to be appreciated that the appellants-trust was managing the affiliated college to which public money-is paid as Government aid. Public money paid as Government aid plays a major role in the control, maintenance and working of educational institutions. The aided institutions like Government institutions discharge public function by way of imparting education to students. They are subject to the rules and regulations of the affiliating University. There activities are closely supervised by the University authorities. Employment in such institutions, therefore, is not devoid of any public character. (See The Evolving Indian Administrative Law by M. P. Jain (1983) p. 266 ). So are the service conditions of the academic staff. When the University takes a decision regarding their pay scales, it will be binding on the management. The service conditions of the academic staff are, therefore, not purely of a private character. It has super-added protection by University decisions creating a legal right-duty relationship between the staff and the management. When there is existence of this relationship, mandamus cannot be refused to the aggrieved party. ";