KESHWANAND GAUR Vs. STATE OF UTTARAKHAND AND OTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner, who was appointed as an Assistant Teacher L.T. Grade (Sanskrit) in a private though grant-in-aid school, namely, "Janta Inter College Ramar Dang". He was appointed after a due selection vide order dated 15.05.2013. He is presently aggrieved by the order dated 25.06.2013 by which the entire selection for the post of Assistant Teacher L.T. Grade (Sanskrit) in the said College has been cancelled! Prior to it, after a due selection and the recommendation of the Selection Committee, the appointing authority i.e. the Committee of Management had issued an appointment letter dated 15.05.2013 to the petitioner. The said appointment letter has not yet been recalled or cancelled by the authority concerned, and according to the counsel for the petitioner, with consent of the Management, the petitioner is continuously teaching in the said Management school for the last 21/2 years. A fact, which is admitted by the Management Committee which is respondent no. 6 and is represented by Mr. Sunil Upadhyay.

(2.) Brief facts of the case, which needs a narration, are as follows :-

(3.) Out of these eight candidates when the interview for the post of Assistant Teacher L.T. Grade (Sanskrit) was scheduled to take place in the designated place, only three candidates appeared for the interview, namely, Usha Nautiyal, Dr. Keshwanand (present petitioner) and Dr. Lalita. In the interview, the petitioner obtained 17 marks out of 25 marks and the total marks, including the quality points marks, of the petitioner comes to 110.05 (93.05+17). Consequently, the petitioner has obtained the highest number of marks out of these eight candidates. Thereafter, the Selection Committee forwarded the name of the petitioner before the appointing authority, i.e. the Chief Education Officer, on 04.03.2013. Since an approval is required by the Chief Education Officer for the said selection and only after the approval appointment can be made by the Management Committee. However, the regulations, which are presently applicable in such appointments, are known as "Uttarakhand School Education Act, 2006" (in short "Act of 2006"). As per Rule 17 (g) of the Act of 2006, once the Selection Committee sends the name, the District Education Officer has to pass an order within two months thereafter and if no orders are passed within a period of two months then the approval is "deemed" to have been given. Consequently, since no order was passed by the Chief Education Officer within two months and invoking the deeming clause (referred above) the Management Committee gave an appointment letter on 15.05.2013 to the petitioner. Since the documents were sent for approval as far back as on 04.03.2013 and after two months i.e. on 05.05.2013 deeming clause could have been invoked and only thereafter the appointment letter was given to the petitioner on 15.05.2013. Since then the petitioner is teaching in the said school.