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10. The appointment of staff is governed by Rule 9 under the MEPS Rules, and the provisions of sub-rules (1) to (3) being relevant, are reproduced below :

"9. Appointment of staff.
(1) The teaching staff of the school shall be adequate having regard to the number of classes in the school and the curriculum including alternative courses provided and the optional subjects taught therein.

11. The provisions of sub-rules (2A) and (2B) in Rule 9 of the MEPS Rules are introduced by issuing notification dated 22-6-2017 prescribing the manner and the procedure of making recruitment to the posts of teachers and the same are challenged in all these petitions. On the very next date, i.e. on 23-6-2017, the Government Resolution is issued, which is in Marathi, incorporating Clause 3.6 in Para 3 therein, requiring the Management to send the letter of appointment through e-mail to the candidate in order of merit from the list of successful candidates in the Eligibility and/or Aptitude Test published by the State Government. This Government Resolution is also the wp5059.17 and connected petitions.odt subject-matter of challenge in all these petitions.

19. We may at the outset make it clear that when we passed an order on 30-8-2018, reproduced earlier, it was expressed by the learned counsels appearing for the petitioners, that if the provision of Rule 9(2B) of the MEPS Rules, introduced by notification dated 22-6-2017, is read down to mean that the right of the Management to select and appoint the candidates in the zone of consideration from the merit list is protected, then they would not have any objection for the entire procedure introduced under sub-rules (2A) and 2(B) of Rule 9 of the MEPS Rules, but according to them, in such a situation also, the Government Resolution dated 23-6-2017 to the extent it incorporates wp5059.17 and connected petitions.odt Clause 3.6 in Para 3 therein will have to be quashed and set aside, as it encroaches upon the autonomy of the private aided educational institutions to select and appoint the suitable candidates of their choice to hold and occupy the posts of teachers. It was pointed out to us that in the senior colleges attached to the University, a Selection Committee is statutorily constituted to select the teachers in the private aided colleges consisting of one representative of the Vice-Chancellor, the subject expert from outside and the representative of the Administrative Officer in the Department of Higher Education of the State of Maharashtra, as its members, apart from others, and there was no hesitation to accept such members in the constitution of the School Committee, which is empowered to make appointments of teachers in the private aided schools.

wp5059.17 and connected petitions.odt

34. Our reading of Rule 9(2B) of the MEPS Rules is that it retains with the Management or the School Committee its power to select the teachers of its choice amongst the qualified candidates; the reasons being - (i) that it consciously avoids using the word "appoint" in place of the word "select" used therein, and

(ii) the power to make appointment conferred by Section 5(1) of the MEPS Act read with Rule 9(2) of the MEPS Rules and Clause 3(c) in Schedule 'A', is not taken away. It does not, in our view, interfere with the right of the Management to select and appoint the qualified, eligible and suitable person of its choice to occupy and hold the post of teacher in the private aided schools, on the basis of oral interview. We, therefore, reject the argument of the State and its authorities that Rule 9(2B) has to be interpreted in such a fashion so as to mandate the Management or the School Committee to make appointment to the posts of teachers strictly as per the merit shown in the list of candidates successful in the Eligibility and/or Aptitude Test conducted by the Central or the State Government or any of its agencies without judging comparative merits and suitability to select the candidates wp5059.17 and connected petitions.odt on the basis of oral interview.