STATE OF ASSAM Vs. KRIPANATH SARMA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These twenty-one appeals (eleven by special leave and ten on certificates granted by the High Court) arise from the judgment of the Assam High Court and will be dealt with together, as they raise common questions. We shall therefore set out the facts of one case relating to Kripanath Sarma in C. A. 950.

(2.) In the year 1947 the Assam Legislature passed an Act known as the Assam Primary Education Act, No. XIII of 1947, in order to provide for development of primary education in the State. That Act was repealed by the Assam Basic Education Act, No. XXVI of l954 (hereinafter referred to as the 1954-Act) which was passed to provide for development, expansion, management and control of basic education and with a view to introduce gradually universal, free and compulsory basic education in the State. The 1954-Act provided for a State Advisory Board for Basic Education (hereinafter referred to as the State Advisory Board). It further made provision for the constitution of Regional Boards for Basic Education known as School Boards for each region in a district. These School Boards were to control basic education in their regions and among the powers conferred on School Boards was the power to appoint and punish basic school teachers and attendance officers. The scheme of the 1954-Act was therefore to entrust the conduct of basic education to School Boards. The State Advisory Board was a central body whose function was to advise the State Government on matters relating to the control and direction of the activities of School Boards, the making of grants to School Boards, the method of recruitment and the conditions of service of basic school teachers and attendance officers, the training of teachers and the making of provision for such training, the curriculum, duration, standard and syllabus of basic education, the preparation, publication and selection of text books, the medical inspection and treatment of children and any other matter which the State Advisory Board considered necessary for carrying out the proposes of that Act fully and effectively or on which the State Government might consult the State Advisory Board.

(3.) The 1954-Act was repealed by the Assam Elementary Education Act, No. XXX of 1962, (hereinafter referred to as the Act). In the present appeals we are mainly concerned with the Act. Section 3 of the Act provides for the constitution of a State Board for Elementary Education (herein-after referred to as the State Board) and the State Board was made a corporate body with perpetual succession and a common seal. The functions of the State Board were defined in S. 10 which inter alia provides that State Board shall lay down principles for allocation of grants for carrying out the purposes of the Act to local authorities, lay down procedure and conditions and hold such tests as may be necessary for recruitment of teachers of elementary schools on such terms and conditions of service as may be prescribed, lay down conditions for recognition, expansion and amalgamation of schools and opening of schools, and do any other act which it considers necessary for carrying out the purposes of the Act fully and effectively. Under S. 15 the State Board has to perform its duties and carry out its functions in accordance with such rules of business as may be prescribed.