RANGANATH MISRA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PETITIONER is the Secretary of the Managing Committee of the Sodaka High School in the district of Ganjam and has made this application on behalf of the Managing Committee of the institution for a Writ of certiorari to quash the direction contained in Annexure -9 issued by the Opposite party No. 3 and for other consequential directions.

(2.) THE High School in question has four classes being classes VIII to XI. Under the prescribed staff pattern for such an institution, it is necessary that there should be one classical teacher. In this School, the classical teacher is meant for teaching sanskrit. The prescribed qualification for such a teacher under Regulation 16(4)(ii) in Chapter IX of the Board's Regulations is 'Sahityacharya'. On 4 -10 -1972, the Board of Secondary Education communicated vide Annexure -1 the appropriate qualifications for different teachers. In view of the relaxation in respect of the qualification of the classical teacher, the Managing Committee appointed opposite party No. 4 by order of appointment dated 5 -9 -1973 (Annexure -2). The appointment was purely temporary and was terminable at any time without notice, the true intention being to make a stopgap arrangement until a qualified teacher was available. On 9 -10 -1974, Petitioner sent a communication to the Headmaster of the school to the following effect:

(3.) UNDOUBTEDLY , the application by the management had been made within time. In fact, as Annexure -8 shows, it was made on the very first day of the commencement of the Amending Act. If the Inspector of Schools was not the appropriate authority, the said application should either have been returned to the school forthwith for presentation to the appropriate authority or should have been forwarded to the prescribed authority by the Inspector of schools. No justification has been shown either in the return made by the Inspector of Schools or by learned Additional Government Advocate in course of the hearing as to why either of the alternate courses was not followed.