S K VERMA Vs. SAMAR BAHADUR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Samar Bahadur Singh, the respondent No. 1 herein, holds B.Ed. and M.Ed. degrees of Allahabad University and at all material times he was a lecturer in Psychology in K. P. Intermediate College, Allahabad. On 30/06/1989, post of the Principal of the said College having fallen vacant, the Committee of Management of the College appointed him the Principal, on ad hoc basis, as he was the seniormost Lecturer in the College; and by his letter dt. 4-12-1989 the District Inspector of Schools gave approval to his such. appointment. While he was functioning in such capacity, a letter dt. 4/05/1990 was addressed by the Deputy Director of Education to the District Inspector of Schools, Allahabad inquiring about the qualification of Sri Singh. Sri Singh was also asked by the said Deputy Director to furnish details of his qualification, which he did Ultimately, Sri Singh received a direction from the Committee of Management on 31/08/1990, asking him to hand over charge of principalship to the Lecturer next to him in the seniority list. Such a direction was given consequent upon an order made by the District Inspector of Schools, Allahabad on Aug. 30, 1990, wherein it was pointed out that under Appendix A to the Regulations framed under the U.P. Intermediate Education Act, 1921 ('Act' for short), only Master's degree in Education which Sri Singh held, was not a sufficient qualification for a person to hold the post of the Head of the institution.

(2.) Aggrieved thereby, respondent No. 1 filed a writ petition contending that the order passed by the District Inspector of Schools and the direction given by the president of the Committee of Management of the College pursuant thereto were illegal and unjustified as M.Ed. degree was also a post-graduate degree and he was legally entitled to hold the post of Principal After hearing the parties, a learned Judge of this Court allowed the writ petition, quashed the impugned orders dt. Aug. 30 and 31, 1990 and directed that if any selection was made for the post of Principal on regular basis by the Commission, the writ petitioner (respondent No. 1) was also entitled to receive consideration for appointment to the said post along with other eligible candidates. The above order of the learned Judge is under challenge in this Special Appeal filed by Sri S. K. Verma, who is as aspirant for the post of the Principal of the College in question and contested the writ petition.

(3.) For proper appreciation of the contentions raised on behalf of the parties in the instant appeal, it will be apposite at this stage to look into Appendix A referred to in Regulation I of Chapter II of the Regulations framed under the Act. Appendix A details the minimum qualifications for teaching staffs of the institution, and serial No. 1 thereof, to the extent it is relevant for our present purposes, reads as under :-