Allahabad High Court sets aside appointments of principals in recognized intermediate colleges and high schools

The Allahabad High Court at Lucknow recently set aside the appointments of principals in the recognized intermediate colleges and high schools of Uttar Pradesh on the ground of an inordinate delay of nine years.

The order came out on a batch of number of writ petitions challenging the filling up of the vacancies initiated by the Advertisement No.03 of 2013 regarding the appointments made in the year 2022.

The bench of Justice Pankaj Bhatia while setting aside the appointments made by the Board in pursuance to the Advertisement No.03 of 2013 observed that it is arbitrary and violative of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India.

The recruitment advertisement was challenged by the petitioners on the ground of inordinate delay in making the appointment.

The Board has clearly restricted the pool of available candidates available for selection and has not followed the mandate as prescribed under Section 11 of the 1982 Act of conducting the written examination as soon as they are notified. The expression “as soon as” should be within a reasonable time, as observed by the Court.

The court also observed that the delay caused by the Board in making appointments had showed the negligent nature of the board.

The Judge said that the decisions made have obviously violated the rights of the eligible candidates (the two senior most teachers) under Rule 12(6) of the 1998 Rules as well as the candidates who obtained their qualifications after 2014, as they were not given the opportunity to be considered only because of the Board's delay. The petitioners' rights have also been violated. as the appointment through the direct recruitment is indirectly an avenue of promotion available to the senior most teachers which is otherwise not available in terms of Rule 10 of 1998 Rules. The entire process of selection is also bad as the pool from which the selection are to be made by the Board has got shrunk only on account of inordinate delay in completing the process of appointment and has thus resulted in violation of Article 16 of the Constitution of India.

The writ petitions were allowed and the Board had been directed to take issue fresh advertisements for recruitments strictly in accordance with law.

Case Title: Committee of Management Intermediate College Natauli & Another vs. State of U.P & 2 others with connected matters.

Statute – Constitution of India 1950