NAIR SERVICE SOCIETY Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Since common question arise for consideration in these writ petitions, they are heard and disposed of by this common judgment. I have heard learned Senior Counsel Sri.K.Ramakumar and learned counsel Sri.P.Gopal for the petitioners and Sri.T.T.Muhamood, learned Special Government Pleader, for the respondents. The facts and documents referred to are those in W.P.(C).No.17893 of 2013.

(2.) An order issued by the Government by Exhibit P4, purportedly with the intention of furthering the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in State of Kerala v. Sneha Cheriyan, 2013 1 KerLT 755 , is challenged in the above writ petitions. While the petitioners assail Exhibit P4 as not being in consonance with the judgment of the Supreme Court, the provisions of the Kerala Education Rules, 1959 (for brevity "KER") and being totally divorced from the issue dealt with and considered by the Supreme Court in Sneha Cheriyan; the learned Special Government Pleader seeks to sustain it on a complete reading of the Supreme Court judgment and the provisions of the KER.

(3.) According to Sri.P.Gopal, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, Exhibit P4 at best is in interpretation of the Supreme Court judgment which evidently, is a wrong interpretation. The petitioner is a Corporate Educational Agency under the Kerala Education Act, 1958 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act"), having established 102 aided schools within the State and has been functioning as a single unit for very many years. The controversy arose since Exhibit P4 made sub-rule (3) to Rule 7A applicable to vacancies arising in established posts; which fall vacant or are sanctioned in accordance with the staff strength during the course of an academic year. The obvious difficulty expressed by the petitioners is that they have 102 schools under them and the continuance of staff in each academic year is based on the staff fixation orders issued by the Department as per Rule 12 of Chapter XXIII KER. Rule 12 of Chapter XXIII KER mandates staff fixation orders to be passed on the basis of the student strength as on the 6th working day of an academic year. The staff fixation orders passed in a particular year are also declared to be applicable and in force till the 14th July of the next academic year; since it is contemplated by the Rule making authority itself that a staff fixation order based on the student strength on the 6th working day of the academic year could be finalised by the Department only by the 15th July of that academic year.