Kerala High Court
Sreeja.S vs State Of Kerala on 23 July, 2021
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN
FRIDAY, THE 23RD DAY OF JULY 2021 / 1ST SRAVANA, 1943
WP(C) NO. 13621 OF 2014
PETITIONER:
SREEJA.S
W/O NAVEEN BHASKER, RESIDING AT 'LAKSHMI', GREENPARK,
5TH STREET, KANNANKULANGARA, KOORKANCHERRY P.O.,
THRISSUR-680 007 WORKING AS HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL
TEACHER, (PHYSICS), SREE NARAYANA TRUST HIGHER
SECONDARY SCHOOL, NATTIKA, THRISSUR.
BY ADVS.
SRI.C.S.RAMANATHAN
SRI.V.K.NANDAKUMARAN
RESPONDENTS:
1 STATE OF KERALA
REP. BY SECRETARY, HIGHER SECONDARY EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT OF KERALA, TRIVANDRUM-695001.
2 THE DIRECTOR
HIGHER SECONDARY EDUCATION, TRIVANDRUM-695001.
3 THE REGIONAL DEPUTY DIRECTOR
HIGHER SECONDARY EDUCATION, ERNAKULAM-682030.
4 THE MANAGER
SREE NARAYANA TRUST SCHOOLS, KOLLAM-691001.
5 THE PRINCIPAL
SREE NARAYANA TRUST HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL, NATTIKA,
THRISSUR DISTRICT-680566.
SRI. P.M.MANOJ - SR.GP
THIS WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON
23.07.2021, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
WP(C) NO. 13621 OF 2014
2
JUDGMENT
The petitioner, who is working as a Higher Secondary School
Teacher in the services of "Sree Narayana Trust Higher Secondary
School" - managed by the 5th respondent, has approached this
Court impugning Ext.P9, through which, the post against which
she was accommodated was cancelled by the Government, saying
that it had not issued orders for creation of the same.
2. Though various assertions and allegations have been
made by the petitioner and respondents against each other, I do
not think that it will be necessary for this Court to go into them in
detail because I notice that when this matter was admitted in the
year 2014, an interim order, dated 30.05.2014, was issued in the
following manner:
"Admit. Issue urgent notice returnable in 10 days to
respondents 1 to 3. Sri.A.N.Rajan Babu, learned standing
counsel takes notice for respondents 4 and 5.
In view of the admitted fact that till April 2014,
WP(C) NO. 13621 OF 2014
salary and allowances were being disbursed to the
petitioner and her appointment as Higher Secondary
School Teacher has been approved, there will be an interim
order directing the respondents to disburse arrears of
salary and allowances to the petitioner with effect from
April, 2014 and to continue to pay salary and allowances to
her at the applicable rate during the pendency of the writ
petition. It is however clarified that such payment will be
subject to further orders to be passed by this Court."
3. When I examine Ext.P9, the only reason stated therein
is that even though the staff strength of "S.N.Trust H.S.S",
Nattika, had been fixed for the academic years 2002-03 to 2004-
05 sanctioning up-gradation of the posts for English, Botany and
Zoology and one junior post each in Physics, Chemistry and
Mathematics, same was ordered to be cancelled solely because a
formal Government Order creating the said posts had not been
issued. However, it is now well settled, through a catena of
judgments of this Court and that of the Hon'ble Supreme Court,
that what is relevant is not the formal creation of posts but as to
WP(C) NO. 13621 OF 2014
whether students were available and if teachers were necessary
for conducting the classes.
4. As is evident from Ext.P8, the vacancies are seen to
be available in the School for the academic years 2002-03 to
2003-04; and obviously, therefore, petitioner's appointment
normally could not have been found to be illegal. However, in
Ext.P9, these posts have been cancelled for the reasons seen
above and the Government appears to say that no such posts
could have been filled up, unless there was a formal order from
them creating the posts.
That said, I am certain that, in the succeeding years after
Ext.P9 had been issued, necessary posts must have been created
because Ext.P8 itself says that such posts are reckoned to be
available only for the years 2002-03 and 2003-04. However,
nothing has been brought to my notice by either side as to
whether these posts were created subsequently, or whether the
WP(C) NO. 13621 OF 2014
status quo continued. In the absence of such information being
available, I am of the firm view that it will not be justified for
this Court to disturb the petitioner, particularly because she is
now enjoying the afore extracted interim order.
In the afore circumstances, this writ petition is ordered,
confirming the interim order dated 30.05.2014; with a
consequential direction that petitioner will continue to be eligible
for all service benefits, as if she had been validly appointed
initially.
Sd/-
DEVAN RAMACHANDRAN
JUDGE
SAS/23/07/2021
WP(C) NO. 13621 OF 2014
APPENDIX OF WP(C) 13621/2014
PETITIONER EXHIBITS
EXHIBIT P1: COPY OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2ND RESPONDENT
DATED 17.2.2006.
EXHIBIT P2: COPY OF THE POCEEDING OF THE MANAGER, SREE
NARAYANA TRUSTS SCHOOLS, KOLLAM DATED 29.12.2006.
EXHIBIT P3: COPY OF THE ORDER OF THE SREE NARAYANA TRUSTS,
KOLLAM DATED 22.10.2007.0
EXHIBIT P4: COPY OF THE ORDER OF THE SREE NARAYANA TRUST,
SCHOOLS, KOLLAM DATED 20.12.2008.
EXHIBIT P5: COPY OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 3RD RESPONDENT
DATED 6.2.2009.
EXHIBIT P6: COPY OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 4TH RESPONDENT
DATED 6.8.2010.
EXHIBIT P7: COPY OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 4TH RESPONDENT
DATED 27.9.2013.
EXHIBIT P8: COPY OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2ND RESPONDENT
DATED 28.3.2006.
EXHIBIT P9: COPY OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2ND RESPONDENT DATED
28.1.2010.
EXHIBIT P10: COPY OF ORDER DATED 17.2.2010 IN WPC NO.5071/2010
OF THE HON'BE HIGH COURT OF KERALA.
EXHIBIT P11: COPY OF THE LETTER FORWARDING THE BILLS OF
TEACHERS BY THE 5TH RESPONDENT TO THE 3RD
RESPONDENT DATED 30.4.2014.
//TRUE COPY//
P.A. TO JUDGE
