Gujarat High Court Upholds Order Directing Minority School To Issue Fresh Show-Cause Notice To Teacher Dismissed By Unauthorised Person

The Gujarat High Court upheld a tribunal's order directing a minority school to issue a fresh show-cause notice to a teacher–dismissed for misconduct, before directing punishment, noting that the dismissal order was passed by a person who was not properly authorized by school management as per Gujarat Secondary Education Act. Justice Maulik J Shelat in his order observed that the resolution wherein a person (Mr Raj who served dismissal order to teacher) was authorized by the school's governing body, suggested that though the body's meeting chaired by the President to discuss the final action to be taken against Teacher had a quorum, however the resolution was signed by only one person.The court noted that it was not clear that who has signed such resolution, as the seal of the Secretary/Treasurer/Trustee of the School is affixed on at the bottom of the resolution. It said,"As per the Rules and Regulations of the School, more particularly, Rule 11 authorizes the Managing Board to delegate its power to the head of the institution. It is not disputed during the course of arguments that Mr. Raj was neither a Trustee nor the Principal when he served the final show-cause notice and the order of dismissal upon Teacher. Since the resolution dated 15.06.2005 was not placed before the Tribunal and is now submitted by the school in its petition at Annexure K - page No. 111, it cannot be looked into by this Court. As per Section 36(1) of the Act, 1972, the service of Teacher shall be terminated by the Manager. As discussed above, the Manager is already defined in Section 2(j) of the Act, 1972.Undoubtedly, the governing body of the school can be considered as a body of persons in charge of control/management of the school, but by no stretch of imagination Mr. Raj can step into the shoes of the management as defined under the Act, 1972. So far as the provisions of the Act, 1972, are concerned, there is no power of delegation available to such a Manager so as to delegate his power in favour of another person. Likewise, as per the Rules and Regulations of the School, the Managing Board can delegate its power to the heads of the institution and not to other persons. Furthermore, the relevant resolution dated 09.12.2013 authorizing Mr. Raj to pass an order of dismissal is only signed by one person, though the resolution depicts that it was chaired by the President with a quorum of other persons, but actually, they have not signed the resolution". The court thus held that the Tribunal's order is neither erroneous nor perverse and does not require any interference by the High Court in so far as remanding the matter back to the School management for issuance of a fresh show-cause notice and to pass an appropriate order of punishment upon receipt of reply from Teacher is concerned."According to my view, neither final show-cause notice dated 21.11.2013, nor the order of dismissal dated 09.12.2013, passed by Mr. Raj, can be said to be in consonance with the provisions of the Act, 1972...Thus, considering the aforesaid peculiar facts and circumstances and upon appreciating the findings recorded by the Tribunal in Para 18 of its impugned order, I am of the view that the view taken by the Tribunal is neither erroneous nor perverse, which does not require any interference by this Court in so far as remanding the matter back to the School management for issuance of a fresh show-cause notice and to pass an appropriate order of punishment upon receipt of reply from Teacher is concerned," the court said. BackgroundThe court was hearing to petitions–one by the school and the other by the teacher who was terminated from service–challenging order dated 10.05.2019 of the Gujarat Educational Institutions Services Tribunal.The Teacher was appointed as the 'Shikshan Sahayak' in the Higher Secondary Section of the school vide the appointment letter dated 13.02.2006. The Teacher, while in service, was served with a show-cause notice dated 01.04.2013 under Section 36(1) of the Gujarat Secondary Education Act, 1972 calling upon him to show cause why he should not be dismissed as a 'Teacher'. It was alleged that the teacher had sent an objectionable anonymous mail in the name of an ex-teacher against the school, principal and Vice Principal in September 2011. The Institution filed a criminal complaint with the concerned police station, wherein after investigation the teacher was found guilty by the police authorities. The Institution did not pursue the complaint against him on a sympathetic consideration after tendered an apology on 15.10.2011, to the Institution.It was also alleged that a student have given a written complaint on 17.08.2012, stating that the teacher were instigating students against the school; when the existence of such complaint came to his knowledge, he allegedly forced the student to change his version and state that the student was not the author of such a letter / complaint. Further it ...

Gujarat High Court Upholds Order Directing Minority School To Issue Fresh Show-Cause Notice To Teacher Dismissed By Unauthorised Person

LIVELAW NEWS NETWORK

Tags