POORNA PRAJNA EDUCATION Vs. TRIPTA HARISHCHANDRA KATKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The First Petitioner is a society registered under the Societies' Registration Act, 1950 and conducts a school known as the Poorna Prajna High School. The school is conducted in the Marathi Medium and is a Secondary School. The First Petitioner is stated to have been established and administered by a linguistic minority consisting of Kannad speaking persons. The First Respondent was appointed as a Headmistress on 3rd July 1995 on probation. The letter of appointment stipulated that the First Respondent would be governed by the Maharashtra Employees of Private Schools (Conditions of Service) Regulation Rules, 1981.

(2.) Rule 3 of the Rules prescribes qualifications for appointment of a Head of a School. Rule 3(1)(b) which applies in the present case is o the following effect : "3. Qualifications and appointment of Head.- (1) A person to be appointed as the Head - (b) of a secondary school including night school or a Junior College of Education shall be a graduate possessing Bachelor's degree in teaching or education of a statutory University or any other qualification recognised by Government as equivalent thereto and possessing not less than five years' total full-time teaching experience after graduation in a secondary school or a Junior College of Education out of which at least two years' experience shall be after acquiring Bachelor's degree in teaching or education: Provided that, in the case of a person to be appointed as the Head of a night secondary school- -(i) he shall not be the one who is holding the post of the Head or Assistant Head of a day school, and -(ii) the experience laid down in clause (b) of sub-rule (1) may be as a part-time teacher." The First Respondent obtained the B.Sc. Degree in 1966 and B.Ed. in 1994. Under Rule 3(1)(b), the head of a Secondary School is required to be a graduate with a Bachelor's Degree in teaching or education of a statutory University. Further more, the candidate has to possess not less than five years' total full time teaching experience after graduation in a secondary school or a Junior College of Education out of which two years' experience shall be after acquiring Bachelor's degree in teaching or education. The First Respondent admittedly did not fulfill the requirements. The First Respondent completed her B.Ed. in April 1994 and on the date on which she was appointed as a Headmistress, she had not attained the required experience of two years' teaching after the B.Ed. Degree. After the First Respondent was appointed as a Headmistress, an application was made by the management on 22nd October 1995 to the Deputy Director of Education for the grant of approval. Approval was, however, refused on 6th August 1997 specifically on the ground that on the date on which the First Respondent was appointed, she did not fulfill the requirement under the Rules, more particularly, of having at least two years' teaching experience after obtaining a Bachelor's Degree in teaching. The services of the First Respondent were terminated on 12th June 1998. The First Respondent thereupon moved the School Tribunal which allowed the appeal by its impugned order dated 19th August 2003. The order of termination was quashed and set aside and the management was directed to reinstate the First Respondent with back wages.

(3.) Upon this petition being filed under Article 226 of the Constitution, this Court was informed that the First Respondent had been reinstated from 1st December 2003. While granting Rule, this Court, however, granted stay of back wages. The First Respondent thereupon continued to serve as a Headmistress until she attained the age of superannuation. The question in the present case is as to whether the order of the School Tribunal is consistent with the requirements contained in the Rules.