Jharkhand State Universities Act | Prior JPSC Approval Must To Initiate Disciplinary Action Against Teacher: High Court

The Jharkhand High Court has held that under the first proviso to Section 57A(1) of the Jharkhand State Universities Act, 2000, the governing body of a minority-affiliated college must obtain prior approval from the Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) before initiating disciplinary proceedings against a teacher. It ruled that disciplinary proceedings carried out without such approval are invalid and that post facto approval cannot cure this defect.The division bench comprising Justices Sujit Narayan Prasad and Pradeep Kumar Srivastava, while dismissing the letters patent appeal, filed by Nirmala College, stated, “this Court, on interpretation of Section 57A(1) of the Act, 2000, is of the view that since the specific command has been provided under the aforesaid proviso that even at the stage of taking disciplinary proceeding, the same will be with the approval of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and once the disciplinary proceeding has been concluded then it is not available for the disciplinary authority to take the ground that the approval can be sought for at any time even after order of termination having been passed on conclusion of departmental proceeding.”The above ruling was delivered in an LPA arising out of the rejection of a preliminary objection by Nirmala College to the maintainability of a writ petition filed by one Dr. Anjana Singh, who had challenged the initiation of disciplinary proceedings and her subsequent dismissal from service as Head, Department of History.As per the factual matrix of the case, Dr. Anjana Singh joined Nirmala College in 2005 and was confirmed on the post of Lecturer in History in 2006. She was later serving as Assistant Professor and Head of Department. Alleging delay in the release of her 6th Pay Commission arrears, she made repeated representations to the college. Instead of resolving her grievance, the college issued a memorandum in October, 2022 initiating disciplinary proceedings against her. In November, 2022, it declined to supply relevant documents. Subsequently, in March, 2023, she was dismissed from service following the conclusion of the proceedings. The JPSC granted post facto approval on 28.06.2023.Dr. Singh challenged these actions in a writ petition, seeking quashing of the memorandum, the refusal to supply documents, the dismissal order, and the JPSC's approval. She also sought reinstatement and a declaration regarding the mandatory role of JPSC under Section 57A.Nirmala College argued that it is a private minority-aided institution and not “State” under Article 12 or “authority” amenable to writ jurisdiction under Article 226. It also submitted that under the Jharkhand Education Tribunal Act, 2005, the petitioner had an alternative remedy and that service disputes in private institutions are not maintainable in writ proceedings.In response, the petitioner argued that the college functions under pervasive control of the State and University, and that Section 57A of the 2000 Act mandates prior approval of JPSC both for initiation of proceedings and for dismissal.Rejecting the college's argument that post facto approval suffices, the Division Bench in para 64 held, “the first proviso to Section 57A(1), which is particularly applicable in 'the college' in question being the affiliated minority college based on religion and also come under the fold of Statute 32 wherein at the stage of appointment, dismissal, removal or termination of the services of the teachers, the Governing Body of such affiliated college is required to take approval of Jharkhand Public Service Commission.”The Court clarified, “The first proviso therefore is very much specific that even at the stage of initiation of departmental proceeding the same will be with the approval of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission.”The Court further noted, “the decision to initiate departmental proceeding was not with the approval of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission and the disciplinary proceeding has been allowed to continue which ultimately resulted into termination from service of the writ petitioner.”Accordingly, the Court ruled that the post facto approval obtained by the college from the JPSC after dismissal of the petitioner was not legally tenable.The Court also found that Nirmala College, despite being a minority institution, operates under pervasive control of the State and University. The Court ruled, “the college having the pervasive control of the university and the State and as such it cannot be construed to be an authority within the meaning of Article 226 of the Constitution of India rather it comes under the fold and ambit of Article 12 of the Constitution of India being State so as to maintain a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India on the basis of applicability of the Statute 32 and the University having the pervasive control so far as the initiation of departmental proceeding, dismissal, termination removal, retirement from service or...

Jharkhand State Universities Act | Prior JPSC Approval Must To Initiate Disciplinary Action Against Teacher: High Court

Bhavya Singh

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