PRIYANKA SANTOSH HEGISHTE Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. Respondents waive service. Petition taken up for hearing and final disposal.

(2.) A two-page letter of March 2022, with 16 separate points, has resulted in the complete obliteration of nine years of unblemished service as a teacher of the 1st Petitioner. As Mr Bandiwadekar points out, there is a wholesale non-application of mind. Every single one of the relevant documents has been ignored. Accusations of delay are made against the 2nd Petitioner management, but the wholly unexplained and unconscionable delay on the part of the 3rd Respondent is simply papered over as if it is immaterial. The Petition has, unusual for such cases, taken every single one of the 16 points in the impugned communication of 22/3/2022 at pages 52 and 53 and provided an answer based on the records.

(3.) The relevant facts are these. The 2nd Petitioner is a Trust and an Educational Institution under the Maharashtra Public Trusts Act 1950. It runs one school called the New English School and Guruvarya Kakasaheb Sapre Science Junior College ("the School") at Devrukh, Taluka Sangameshwar, District Ratnagiri. The School has standards 5 to 12 and is a fully-aided school: it receives 100% aid from the State Government. The service conditions of teaching and non-teaching staff in the School are thus governed by the provisions of the Maharashtra Employees of Private Schools (Conditions of Service) Regulation Act 1977 ("the MEPS Act") and the Maharashtra Employees of Private Schools (Conditions of Service) Rules 1981 ("the MEPS Rules"). The 1st Respondent is the State of Maharashtra through the School Education Department. The 2nd Respondent is the Deputy Director of Education, Kolhapur Region. The 3rd Respondent is the Educational Officer (Secondary) of the Zilla Parishad, Ratnagiri. It is he who has issued the impugned order.