T. PAVITHRA Vs. STATE OF TAMIL NADU

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr.S.Nedunchezhiyan, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr.M.Shahjahan, learned Special Government Pleader for the respondents 1 to 5. There is no representation on behalf of the sixth respondent.

(2.) The sixth respondent is a non-minority aided school with only two teachers. On 31/5/2014, a sanctioned vacancy arose for the post of Secondary Grade Teacher owing to the retirement of a Teacher, namely J.Kulandaivelu. The school management, through their letter dtd. 9/12/2016, had sought for permission to fill up the said post, which was forwarded to the District Elementary Educational Officer on 18/12/2016. However, since their request was kept pending for quite sometime, the petitioner herein was appointed as a Secondary Grade Teacher on 15/12/2017. Th petitioner has also qualified in the Teachers Eligibility Test in April, 2017. On 23/7/2018, the school management had forwarded a proposal to the fourth respondent herein seeking for approval of appointment of the petitioner. However, in the impugned order dtd. 10/11/2018, the fourth respondent had rejected the school's application seeking for approval of the petitioner's appointment, predominantly on the ground that there were surplus Teachers in the school for the year 2017-2018. Challenging the same, the present writ petition has been filed.

(3.) The learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that the reason adopted by the respondents for rejecting the school's application seeking for approval of the petitioner's appointment cannot be sustained, since the existence of surplus Teachers in the school cannot be a ground for rejection. In support of his claim, he had placed reliance on a decision of this Court in the case of V.Mahalakshmi Vs. The Director of Elementary Education and others passed in W.P.No.2503 of 2020, dtd. 16/7/2021.