Kerala High Court
The State Of Kerala vs K.M.Victoria on 9 November, 2015
Author: P.R.Ramachandra Menon
Bench: P.R.Ramachandra Menon
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT:
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE P.R.RAMACHANDRA MENON
&
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN
THURSDAY, THE 14TH DAY OF JUNE 2018 / 24TH JYAISHTA, 1940
WA.No. 970 of 2016
(AGAINST THE JUDGMENT IN WP(C).NO.25120/2012 DATED 09/11/2015)
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APPELLANT(S)/RESPONDENTS 1 TO 3 IN W.P.(C):
1 THE STATE OF KERALA,
REPRESENTED BY THE SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT,
GENERAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT,
GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT,
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-695 001.
2 THE DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION,
AYYANTHOLE, THRISSUR DISTRICT-680 003.
3 THE DISTRICT EDUCATIONAL OFFICER,
IRINJALAKKKUDA, THRISSUR DISTRICT-680 121.
BY GOVERNMENT PLEADER SRI.E.S.ASHRAF
RESPONDENT(S)/PETITIONER & 4TH RESPONDENT IN W.P.(C):
1. K.M.VICTORIA,
HIGH SCHOOL ASSISTANT (MALAYALAM),
ST.JOSEPH'S HIGH SCHOOL, MATHILAKAM,
THRISSUR DISTRICT-680 685.
2. THE HEADMASTER,
ST.JOSEPHS' HIGH SCHOOL, MATHILAKAM,
THRISSUR DISTRICT-680 685.
R1 BY ADVS.SRI.V.A.MUHAMMED
SRI.M.SAJJAD
SRI.V.RAJASEKHARAN NAIR
R2 BY ADV. SRI.V.G.ARUN
THIS WRIT APPEAL HAVING BEEN FINALLY HEARD
ON 14-06-2018,THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED
THE FOLLOWING:
sts
19/6/2018
CR
P.R.Ramachandra Menon &
Devan Ramachandran, JJ.
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W.A.No.970 of 2016
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Dated this the 14th day of June, 2018
JUDGMENT
Devan Ramachandran, J.
The question, proffered for our deliberation in this appeal, wears a rather simple look : Can the period of service of a teacher served in an aided or Government school prior to his/her resignation from that school to join another aided/ Government school be also taken into account while computing his/her total service and its attendant benefits?
2. Though the point looks simple, its evaluation becomes slightly knotty on account of the fact that certain specific provisions of the Kerala Education Act and Rules seem to answer it to the negative, while the various orders issued by the Government from time to time under the sanction of the afore Act and Rules appear to stipulate to the contrary, subject to certain defined criterion.
WA 970/16 2
3. The brief facts of this case are set out under:
In this appeal, the State of Kerala and its functionaries of the Education Department challenge the judgment of the learned Single Judge in W.P.(C)No.25120/2012, wherein this Court allowed the writ petition filed by the first respondent herein impugning the order issued against her to recover certain sums on the allegation that her ten year higher grade fixation had been incorrectly done and that she is not entitled to the difference in pay and allowances drawn by her on account of such irregular fixation for the relevant period.
4. The facts in this case are not greatly disputed. The parties are ad idem that before the first respondent joined service as a High School Assistant (Malayalam) in the services of St.Joseph's High School, Mathilakam, she had broken spells of service in three different schools. The writ petitioner has given the details of her service in the first paragraph of the writ petition itself, which we extract for convenience of reference as under :
WA 970/16 3
The service details of the petitioner are given below:
HSA (Malayalam) 18.04.1984 to 17.09.1984 GHS, Pazhayannur 01.07.1985 to 02.06.1986 Arogiamatha HS; Kottathara, Palakkad District.
02.06.1986 to 25.09.1986 Mount Carmel HS, Mananna, Tellippara.
05.01.1987 to 23.03.1987 St.Joseph's High School, Mathilakam 13.07.1987 to 02.09.1987 '' 18.09.1987 to 04.12.1987 '' 01.06.1988 onwards '' As is clear from the afore details provided by the petitioner, the petitioner's service prior to joining of St.Joseph's High School, Mathilakam was broken and not continuous since she had been obviously accommodated in the respective school in leave vacancies. The sole question is whether these broken spells of non-continuous service can also be reckoned for the purpose of granting benefit of ten year higher grade to the writ petitioner/first respondent.
5. It is asserted by the first respondent that she was given the benefit of the ten year higher grade on 01.11.1996, WA 970/16 4 taking into account the aforementioned three spells of broken service also. The controversy herein is not if this was proper or otherwise but whether this period could have been taken into account because there was a delay of more than 100 days in her joining the St.Joseph's High School, Mathilakam on 05.01.1987, after she resigned from the services of Mount Carmel High School at Tellippara. While the Government asserts that a break of more than one month would lead to forfeiture of all past service prior to the resignation, the first respondent asserts that this is not so on account of the provisions of the applicable Government Orders, to which she refers to in extenso.
6. The learned Single Judge, after a close examination of the materials on record and the submissions made by the learned counsel, concluded that the first respondent's challenge against the impugned order was tenable and on such basis allowed the writ petition, thus compelling the appellants herein to file this appeal.
WA 970/16 5
7. We have heard Sri.E.S.Ashraf, learned Government Pleader appearing for the appellants and Sri.V.Rajasekharan Nair, learned counsel appearing for the first respondent.
8. As we have already indicated above, the point in controversy in this case is solely whether the admitted delay of nearly 100 days occasioned in the petitioner joining St.Joseph's High School, Mathilakam after resigning from the earlier school, would lead to forfeiture of all her services in the earlier schools.
9. The learned Government Pleader initially commenced his submissions by asserting that as per Rules 53 and 54 of Chapter XIV-A of the Kerala Education Rules ('the KER' for brevity) read with Rule 62 of Chapter XIV-C thereof, the entire period of service, prior to resignation of a teacher, would be statutorily extinguished and forfeited. For the purpose of easy reference, we extract these provisions below:
b