Chief Justice's Court
Case :- SPECIAL APPEAL No. - 706 of 2019 Appellant :- Triloki Nath Pandey Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Appellant :- Mritunjay Mohan Sahai Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Anand Prakash Srivastava
Hon'ble Govind Mathur,Chief Justice Hon'ble Vivek Varma,J.
This appeal is preferred to question correctness of the judgement dated 20.5.2019 passed by learned Single Bench in Writ A No. 26501 of 2017 (Shiv Poojan Vs State of UP and three others).
At the threshold, learned counsel appearing on behalf of respondent no. 4 namely, Shiv Poojan submits that this appeal is not maintainable in the light of provision of Chapter VIII Rule 5 of the Allahabad High Court Rules, 1952. It is asserted that as per provision aforesaid no appeal against the judgement of learned Single Judge in Writ Petition which is filed against an appellate or revisional order can be maintained.
Per contra, while meeting with preliminary objection, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant states that in the instant matter, the Director Education has invoked the power under Chapter II Rule 3 of the Regulations under the UP Intermediate Education Act, 1921. It is submitted that as per Regulations aforesaid, an appeal could have been filed on having a dispute about seniority of the teachers decided by Committee of Management.
In the case in hand, no such dispute was ever referred to the Committee of Management and the Committee also never decided such dispute. On going through clause (3) of Chapter II of the Act, 1921 relating to appointment of Heads of Institutions and Teachers, we are satisfied that at the first instance, every dispute about the seniority of a teacher shall be referred to Committee of Management, which shall decide the same giving reasons for the decision. It is only after having such decision, an appeal could be filed before the Regional Deputy Director having territorial jurisdiction.In the case in hand, Committee of Management never decided the issue being never referred to it. In the light of whatever stated above, we are having no hesitation in arriving at conclusion that the order dated 24.5.2017 passed by Joint Director Education, Varanasi Zone, Varanasi is apparently without jurisdiction. He could have not decided issue without first getting the issue resolved by Committee of Management itself.
Suffice to state that in paragraph no. 33 & 34 of the petition for writ, petitioner has also stated that the Joint Director Education was not possessing jurisdiction to decide the issue without first getting the matter resolved by the Committee of Management.
In view of whatever stated above, we are satisfied that the order passed by Joint Director Education is not an order passed in appellate jurisdiction and that being an order without jurisdiction certainly deserves to be quashed. Learned Single Bench without examining this aspect of the matter entered into the merits of the case and accepted the petition for writ.
Looking to the background facts noted above, we deem it appropriate to set aside the judgement and order dated 20/5/2019 passed by learned Single Bench in Writ A No. 26501 of 2017 and also the order dated 24.5.2017 passed by Joint Director Education, Varanasi Zone, Varanasi. The matter is remanded to the Committee of Management for having a decision in accordance with the authority available under sub Clause (e) of Clause (3) of Chapter II of the Regulations under the Intermediate Education Act, 1921 relating to appointment of Heads of the Institutions and teachers.
With aforesaid observation, the appeal stands allowed.
Order Date :- 30.7.2019 RavindraKSingh (Vivek Varma, J.) (Govind Mathur, C.J.)