BAIKUNTHANATH PRATIHARI Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE point involved in this writ petition is whether a teacher of a private school taken over by Government may be transferred by Government from one school to another. The question arises in the following circumstances.

(2.) ON 1 February 1943, the petitioner was appointed as an assistant master in B. M. High School, Bhubaneswar, and had been teaching in that school since then. On 2 January 1958, the Director of Public Instruction, Orissa, wrote a letter to the secretaries of all high schools proposing to take them over on certain conditions. It was mentioned in the said letter that the managing committee must agree to accept the revised rules prescribed by Government and to observe such rules in addition to, or in place of, those already prescribed by the Orissa Education Code in general, and particularly the rules relating to the constitution, term of office, powers and functions of the managing committee, appointment of teachers and use of school funds; that if the committee agreed to accept the conditions, they should carry a resolution to that effect at a meeting of the managing committee and send a copy of the resolution signed by all the members of the committee to the Inspector of Schools. It is said that the B. M. School, Bhuhaneswar, was taken over by the Government and the managing committee was dissolved.

(3.) ON 11 August 1958, the special rules as contemplated in the letter of the Director of Public Instruction dated 2 January 1958, were communicated to the Inspector of Schools who, in turn, communicated the same to the secretaries of the schools concerned. These rules include rules for the appointment, transfer, leave and service conditions of the employees, Rule 8 (c) providing that the Inspector or Inspectress of Schools has the power to transfer the members of the teaching staff and clerks from one school to another of the same status.