Delhi High Court
Harpreet Kaur vs Queen'S Convent School And Anr. on 4 September, 2020
Digitally Signed By:SINDHU
KRISHNAKUMAR
Signing Date:04.09.2020 22:35:05
$~13
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of decision: 4th September, 2020
+ W.P.(C) 13623/2019 & CM APPLs. 55040/2019, 8802/2020,
13483/2020
HARPREET KAUR ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Gaurav Gaur, Advocate.
versus
QUEEN'S CONVENT SCHOOL AND ANR. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Dilip Singh and Mrs. Manisha
Chauhan, Advocates for R-1.
(M:9810111052)
Mrs. Avnish Ahlawat, Standing
Counsel for GNCTD with Mr. Nitesh
Kumar Singh, Advocates for
Directorate of Education/R-2.
CORAM:
JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH
Prathiba M. Singh, J.(Oral)
1. This hearing has been held through video conferencing.
2. The present petition has been filed by the Petitioner who is a Physical
Education teacher with the Queen's Convent School (hereinafter "School").
She was appointed in the year 2008 and her appointment was confirmed in
2014. Some disputes had arisen between her and the School and her salary
was stopped. The Petitioner was therefore constrained to file the present writ
petition for release of her salary in December, 2018.
3. A memo was issued by the School against the Petitioner for pursuing
her MPE Course without the School's permission. The same was replied to
by the Petitioner. However, the School thereafter issued a show cause notice
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Digitally Signed
Signing Date:04.09.2020 21:40
Digitally Signed By:SINDHU
KRISHNAKUMAR
Signing Date:04.09.2020 22:35:05
on 14th August, 2019. The Petitioner also filed a reply to the said show cause
notice of the School by which an inquiry had been instituted against her.
4. According to the Petitioner, the inquiry was conducted in an unfair
and arbitrary manner, leading to the filing of the present petition. The prayer
in the petition is set out below:
"a) to issue an appropriate writ order or direction, in
the nature of mandamus to quash the disciplinary
proceedings initiated by the respondent no.1 against
the petitioner and also quash the order of the inquiry
officer dated 24.10.2019 bearing Ref. No.PK/IO/01;
Or in the alternative if this Hon'ble Court reaches to
the conclusion that the disciplinary proceedings
cannot be quashed, then in such eventuality this
Hon'ble Court may graciously be pleased to;-
b) issue an appropriate writ, order or direction in the
nature of mandamus thereby directing the
respondents to allow the petitioner to avail services of
Shri J.B. Anand as her Defence Assistant and also
pass necessary directions for recording of all the
proceedings conducted by the Inquiry Officer in a
CCTV cameras.
c) issue an appropriate writ, order or direction in the
nature of mandamus thereby directing the respondent
no.2 to supervise the disciplinary proceedings by
sending a competent officer to recall all the
proceedings of the disciplinary proceedings;
d) Any other or further relief(s) which this Hon'ble
Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and
circumstances of the case may also kindly be passed
in favour of the petitioner and against the
respondents, in the interest of justice"
5. As can be seen from the prayer, one of the major grievances of the
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signing Date:04.09.2020 21:40
Digitally Signed By:SINDHU
KRISHNAKUMAR
Signing Date:04.09.2020 22:35:05
Petitioner was that she was not being allowed to take the services of Mr. J.B.
Anand as her Defence Assistant. The Petitioner has also expressed some
apprehensions about the Inquiry Officer who was conducting the inquiry.
During the pendency of this writ petition, the Inquiry Officer has changed
and the Petitioner has also been provided a Defence Assistant. Vide order
dated 19th August, 2020 this Court has taken on record the School's
statement that the Inquiry Officer would be Mr. Harbans Kaushal, Advocate
and the Presenting Officer would be Mr. Rajesh Khanna. The Department of
Education (hereinafter, "DoE") was also directed to appoint an Observer for
conduct of the inquiry proceedings. Mrs. Avnish Ahlawat, Standing Counsel
has sought instructions and the DoE has appointed Mr. Mohan Singh Rawat,
Section Officer as Observer for the inquiry proceedings. The Petitioner has
also been permitted to avail the services of Mr. Ranbir Singh as her Defence
Assistant in the inquiry proceedings. The inquiry proceedings are stated to
have now commenced and the next date in the matter is stated to be in
September, 2020.
6. The various apprehensions expressed by the Petitioner have therefore
been adequately addressed. The inquiry shall now be conducted in a free,
fair and impartial manner. Proper and adequate notice for each hearing shall
be given to the Observer, the defense assistants and the parties concerned.
The representative of the DoE who is the Observer shall remain present on
all dates during the inquiry proceedings.
7. With these observations, the present petition is disposed of leaving
open the rights and remedies of the parties to avail of any remedies in
accordance with law, after the enquiry report is submitted. If the Petitioner is
aggrieved by the report of the Inquiry Officer, she is free to avail of her
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signing Date:04.09.2020 21:40
Digitally Signed By:SINDHU
KRISHNAKUMAR
Signing Date:04.09.2020 22:35:05
remedies in accordance with law. All permissible objections raised objecting
to the initiation of the Inquiry in this writ petition, may also be raised in any
proceeding which the Petitioner may file challenging the Inquiry Report, if
the need arises. All pending applications are also disposed of.
PRATHIBA M. SINGH
JUDGE
SEPTEMBER 4, 2020
dj/T
Signature Not Verified
Digitally Signed
Signing Date:04.09.2020 21:40
