(1.) THE Judgment of the Court was delivered by Lakshmanan,J. - Heard Mr.S.V.S.Ayyar,learned Senior Counsel for the appellant in W.A.746 of 1998,Mr.K.P.Dandapani for the appellant in W.A.747 of 1998 and Mr.M.Ramachandran for the common first respondent in both the appeals.
(2.) THESE two Writ Appeals arise out of the Judgment of a learned Single Judge in O.P.10807 of 1994 dated 27th March 1998 allowing the Original Petition filed by the first respondent,N.Ammad,Headmaster -in -charge of Emjay High School,Villaippalli.A writ of mandamus was issued to the respondents in the O.P.to promote him as the Headmaster of the said school with effect from 3rd June 1994 and a further direction to send back the fourth respondent therein(appellant in W.A.747 of 1998)to the B.T.M.High School as a High School Assistant.W.A.746 of 1998 has been filed by the Manager of the Emjay High School and W.A.747 of 1998 was filed by the fourth respondent in the O.P .,P.M.Aboobacker.By consent of all the parties,both the Writ Appeals were taken up together.
(3.) THE first respondent as petitioner in the O.P.submitted that he was the senior most teacher working as teacher -in -charge of the school and that the District Educational Officer has also approved his appointment as per R.45(C)of Chap.14A of K.E.R.First respondent was,therefore,continuing as a teacher -in -charge and after completing 12 years graduate service which is necessary as per R.44(A)of Chap.14A for appointment to the post of Headmaster,he became eligible to be appointed as Headmaster as on 3rd June 1994.Therefore,he submitted that as per R.45(C)of Chap.14A and as per Ext.P1,the vacancy should be filled up as soon as qualified hands are available and that the first respondent,who is the senior most teacher and qualified to be appointed to the post,should be appointed as such.However,the management was deliberately not appointing him as Headmaster for extraneous consideration and there is no justification for not appointing him as Headmaster of the school.Along with the Original Petition,the first respondent filed Exts.P -1 to P -5.