Kerala High Court
Manager, A.M.U.P. School vs State Of Kerala on 21 November, 2000
Author: K.S. Radhakrishnan
Bench: K.S. Radhakrishnan
JUDGMENT K.S. Radhakrishnan, J.
1. W. A. Nos. 1831 and 2553 of 2000 are filed by the Manager of the AMUP School, Perumannur, Malappuram District, against the judgment in O.P. Nos. 21992 of 2000 and 28180 of 2000 respectively. Fifth respondent in O.P. No. 21992 of 2000 filed W.A. No. 1935 of 2000 which is filed against the judgment in O.P. No. 19434 of 2000. For disposal of these cases, we may narrate the facts as we get in O.P.No. 21992 of 2000, against the judgment of which W.A. No. 1831 of 2000 is filed.
2. The question involved in these cases is with regard to appointment of Headmaster in AMUP School, Perumannur, Malappuram District, in the retirement vacancy which arose on 1.5.1999. Respondents 5 and 6 were the rival claimants for the said posts. The Manager appointed the fifth respondent, Sri. K. Sethumadhavan, as Headmaster of the School vide Ext. P1 order dated 1.5.1999. Appointment was approved by the Assistant Educational Officer vide his order dated 14.10.1999 with effect from 1.5.1999 onwards. Aggrieved by the appointment of the fifth respondent, sixth respondent filed a petition before the Assistant Educational Officer. It was pointed out by the sixth respondent before the Assistant Educational Officer that the fifth respondent was not qualified to be appointed to the post of Headmaster. Assistant Educational Officer accepted the complaint of the sixth respondent and rejected the appointment of the fifth respondent as Headmaster of the School. Aggrieved by the same, the Manager filed appeal before the District Educational Officer, who by order dated 1.10.1999 allowed the appeal. Aggrieved by the same, the sixth respondent filed a Revision Petition before the Addl. Director of Public Instruction, who vide his order dated 22.2.2000 rejected the Revision Petition. Sixth respondent then preferred a Revision Petition before the Government, and the Government vide order dated 23.6.2000 allowed the Revision Petition filed by the sixth respondent, holding that sixth respondent was the rightful claimant for the post of Headmaster. Aggrieved by the said order, Manager has preferred O.P. No. 21992 of 2000. The fifth respondent filed O.P.No. 19434 of 2000. Learned Single Judge confirmed the order of the Government, Ext. P9, against which appeals have been preferred.
3. When the matter came up for hearing, we heard counsel for the appellant in W.A. No. 1831 and 2553 of 2000, Sri. C.P Sudhakara Prasad, counsel for the appellant in W.A. No. 1935 of 2000, Sri. Asok M. Cherian, counsel for the sixth respondent, Sri. P.C. Sasidharan, and the learned Government Pleader, Sri. C.K. Pavithran. The post of Headmaster fell vacant on 1.5.1999 in the AMUP School, Perumannur, Malappuram District R. 45 of Chapter XIV-A of the K.E.R. deals with qualification for appointment to the post of Headmaster in a U.P. School, which is extracted below for easy reference:
45. Subject to R. 44, when the post of Headmaster of complete U.P. School is vacant or when an incomplete U.P. School becomes a complete U.P. School, the post shall be filled up from among the qualified teachers on the staff of the School or Schools under the Educational Agency. If there is a Graduate teacher with B.Ed. or other equivalent qualification and who has got at least five years experience in teaching after acquisition of B.Ed. Degree, he may be appointed as Headmaster, provided he has got a service equal to half of the period of service of the seniormost under graduate teacher. If graduate teachers with the aforesaid qualification and service are not available in the School or Schools under the same Educational Agency, the seniormost Primary School teacher with SSLC or equivalent and TTC issued by the Board of Public Examination, Kerala, or T.C.H. issued by the Karnataka Secondary Education, Examination Board, Bangalore, or a pass in Pre-degree Examination with Pedagogy as an elective subject conducted by the University of Kerala, or any other equivalent training qualification prescribed for appointment as Primary School Assistant may be appointed.
Note:- The language/specialist teachers, according to their seniority in the combined seniority list of teachers, shall also be appointed as Headmaster of U.P. School or schools under an Educational Agency provided the teacher possesses the prescribed qualifications for promotion as Headmaster of U.P. School on the dale of occurrence of vacancy.
R. 45 says that when the post of Headmaster of complete U.P. School is vacant, the post of Headmaster shall be filled up from among the qualified teachers on the staff of the School or Schools under the Educational Agency. If there is a Graduate teacher with B.Ed., or other equivalent qualification, and who has got at least five years experience in teaching, after acquisition of B.Ed. degree, he may be appointed as Headmaster provided he has got a service equal to half of the period of service of the seniormost under-graduate teacher. In the instant case, sixth respondent possesses B.Sc., B.Ed., the test qualification and also has service equal to half of the period of service of the seniormost under graduate teacher, while the fifth respondent is having Praveen of the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha and Diploma in Hindi Teachers Training.
4. Counsel for the fifth respondent maintained the stand that qualifications possessed by him are sufficient for appointing him to the post of Headmaster, while counsel for the sixth respondent maintained the stand that those are not requisite qualifications under R. 45 of Chapter XIV-A of the KER for the post of Headmaster. In this case, admittedly, sixth respondent possessed all the necessary qualification for being appointed to the post of Headmaster. But the question that falls for consideration is whether the fifth respondent's qualifications are sufficient for being considered for appointment to the post of Headmaster. Qualification of Praveen of the Dakshina Bharath Hindi Prachar Sabha and Diploma in Hindi Teachers Training are sufficient for appointment to the post of High School Assistant (Hindi). In this connection we may refer to Chapter XXXI of the K.E.R. which deals with qualifications of private school teachers. R. 2 deals with High Schools. R. 2(2)(b)(iv) deals with High School Assistant (Hindi), which is extracted below for easy reference:
The candidates shall possess anyone of the academic qualifications and a training qualification as specified below:
A. ACADEMIC QUALIFICATION A degree in Hindi conferred or recognised by the Universities in Kerala; or A title of oriental learning in Hindi awarded or recognised by the Universities in Kerala, or Praveen of the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, Madras with a pass in the SSLC Examination conducted by the Commissioner for Government Examinations, Kerala or its equivalent; or Sahithyacharya of Kerala Hindi Prachar Sabha with a pass in SSLC Examination conducted by the Commissioner for Government Examinations, Kerala or its equivalent. B. TRAINING QUALIFICATIONS B.Ed./B.T./L.T. conferred or recognised by the Universities in Kerala or Diploma or certificate of Language Teacher's Training in Hindi issued by the Commissioner for Government Examinations, Kerala; or Diploma in Hindi Teachers Training issued by the Commissioner for Government Examinations, Kerala; or A pass in anyone of the following examinations of the Kendriya Hindi Siksha Mandal Agra namely:
(i) Hindi Siksha Praveen;
(ii) Hindi Siksha Prangath;
(iii) Hindi Siksha Nishanat.
Explanation 1:.............
We notice tat the academic qualification required for the post of HSA (Hindi) is a degree in Hindi conferred or recognised by the Universities in Kerala; or, a title of Oriental learning in Hindi awarded or recognised by the Universities in Kerala; or Praveen of the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, Madras with a pass in the SSLC Examination conducted by the Commissioner for Government Examinations, Kerala or its equivalent. The mere fact that the qualification is made equivalent to the degree conferred or recognized by the Universities in Kerala, for the purpose of appointment to the post of HSA (Hindi) does not mean that qualification is equivalent to Graduation for the purpose of considering for appointment to the post of Headmaster. In other words, the qualification of Praveen of the Dakshina Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha, Madras is equivalent only for the purpose of appointing to the post of HSA (Hindi) and not for the post of Headmaster of a U.P. School.
5. We may notice that the training qualification is B.Ed./B.T./L.T. conferred or recognised by the Universities in Kerala or Diploma or Certificate of Language Teacher's Training in Hindi issued by the Commissioner for Government Examinations, Kerala or Diploma in Hindi Teachers Training issued by the Commissioner for Government Examinations, Kerala. The mere fact that Diploma in Hindi Teachers Training issued by the Commissioner for Government Examinations, Kerala, is also considered as an alternative qualification, or equivalent qualification, for the purpose of appointment to the post of HSA (Hindi), does not mean that Diploma in Hindi Teachers Training is equivalent to B.Ed./B.T./L.T. for the purpose of consideration to the post of Headmaster.
6. Counsel for the Manager laid stress on the Note which appears in R. 45 of Chapter XIV-A of the K.E.R. which says that the language/specialist teachers, according to their seniority in the combined seniority list of teachers, shall also be appointed as Headmaster of U.P. School or Schools under an Educational Agency provided the teacher possesses the prescribed qualifications for promotion as Headmaster of U.P. School on the date of occurrence of vacancy. Note only says that the language/specialist teacher shall also be appointed as Headmaster with a rider that they should have the prescribed qualification. Qualification is prescribed in R.45 which says that qualification is Graduation with B.Ed. or other equivalent qualification with atleast 5 years experience in teaching after acquisition of B.Ed. degree. If a Graduate teacher is available with those qualifications, and that he has got service equal to half of the period of service of the seniormost under graduate teacher, he should be preferred for appointment to the post of Headmaster, and not an under-graduate teacher. Only if a graduate teacher with the aforesaid qualifications is not available, in the School, or in the Schools under the same Educational Agency, then alone the seniormost Primary School Teacher with SSLC or equivalent and TTC issued by the Board of Public Examination, Kerala or T.C.H. issued by the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board, Bangalore would be considered.
7. We are therefore of the opinion that the qualifications possessed by the fifth respondent are not sufficient for being appointed to the post of Headmaster of a U.P. School. Qualifications are sufficient for appointing him as HSA (Hindi). We therefore find no infirmity in the order passed on 23.6.2000 by the Government holding that sixth respondent was the rightful claimant for appointment to the post of Headmaster. We therefore confirm the said order. Consequently, W.A. Nos. 1831 and 1935 of 2000 would stand dismissed.
8. W.A. No. 2553 of 2000, as already stated, was filed against the judgment in O.P No, 28180 of 2000. O.P. No. 28180 of 2000 was filed by the sixth respondent seeking a direction to the educational authorities to take immediate action against the Manager for non-implementation of the order passed by the Government, and to take further steps to disqualify him. Learned Single Judge disposed of the matter on 5.10.2000 directing the Deputy Director of Education to see that Government decision is implemented and to take further action against the Manager as envisaged in 7 including for recovery of loss caused to the sixth respondent due to the denial of promotion. Learned Single Judge therefore directed the Deputy Director of Education to complete the formalities within four months. In the facts and circumstances of this case, we make it clear that if the Manager gives effect to the Government Order, Ext. P9 in O.P.No. 21992 of 2000, within a period of two weeks from the date of the judgment, all disciplinary proceedings, if any, initiated against him would be dropped. The Manager would implement Ext. P9 forthwith. With regard to salary and other benefits, if any, due to the sixth respondent, it is for her to work out her remedies. Writ Appeals are dismissed as above.