Pritam Pal, J. - (1.) BY this judgment we are going to decide two writ petitions (C.W.P. No. 5026 of the 1984 and C.W.P. No. 291 of 1986) which are interlinked.
(2.) THE facts leading to these petitions are thus: Smt. Santosh Puri was employed as Principal of the Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, Jullundur since November, 1979. Two girl students of this College disappeared from the hostel on January 14, 1984. The Managing Committee of the College made investigation and it believed that the Principal was involved in the disappearance of the girls. The Managing Committee thereupon initially forced the Principal to proceed on three months leave with effect from February 6, 1984 and suspended her from service on February 10, 1984. Eventually an order was passed by the Managing Committee on February 19, 1984, discharging her from service. Aggrieved by this action of the Managing Committee, the Principal made a representation to the Director, Public Instruction (Colleges), Punjab, Chandigarh, praying that the order regarding her removal from service be set aside. The Director, after hearing the parties, passed an order on September 6, 1984 to the effect that the order passed by the Managing Committee of the Institution removing the Principal from service was in fact an order of her dismissal which in violation of the provisions of the Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service of Teachers) Act, 1974 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). The Management were directed to place on record the relevant documents as requested by the Principal and the parties were ordered to appear before the Director on a specified date for hearing on merits. The first writ (C.W.P. No. 5026 of 1984) has been filed by the Managing Committee of the College challenging the order of the Director of the Public Instruction (Annexure P.10) on the ground that Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, Jullundur, is an Institution established and administered by a religious and linguistic minority which is protected by Article 30 of the Constitution of India and the Director of Public Instruction (Colleges), Punjab, had no authority to interfere in the affairs of the institution. The impugned order is said to be violative of Article 30 of the Constitution and it is contended that provisions of the Act have no application to the institution.
(3.) IN the second writ (CWP No. 291 of 1986) the Principal Mrs. Santosh Puri, has assailed the order dated February 24, 1984 (Annexure P. 4), removing her from service, on the plea that this order is actually an order of dismissal from service without affording an opportunity of being heard and it, therefore, violates the rules of natural justice. It is contended that the institution which she was serving is neither of a religious and linguistic minority nor it is absolved from the application of the provisions of the Act.;