GO on Staff Fixation in Schools Quashed

In a major setback to the State Government, the Kerala High Court on Thursday set aside government orders laying down the norms for staff fixation and the conditions for filling the vacancies of teachers by making appointment from the ‘teachers bank’.
The court also quashed the executive orders issued in continuation of the government orders.
The order imposing conditions on the appointment of teachers in aided schools and bringing private aided schools under the provisions of the Right to Information Act - 2005 also stands quashed. The court quashed another order stating that appointment to leave vacancies should be on daily wages.
Justice A V Ramakrishna Pillai passed the order while allowing a batch of petitions filed by managers of various aided schools, including minority institutions, challenging the government’s orders.
The order issued in September 2011 stated that appointment of teachers in ‘additional division vacancies’ was restricted on various occasions, and strict conditions were imposed by the government from time-to-time regarding filling up of vacancies.
But, in aided schools, certain managers appointed teachers ignoring the conditions.  The majority of the protected teachers (teachers appointed prior to July, 15, 1997) who were retrenched from aided schools are still continuing in other schools. Ironically, most of them stand deployed in government Schools. This has resulted in the curtailment of recruitment through the Public Service Commission. Even though the government has issued various orders to accommodate them in the respective parent schools, 2,897 teachers are yet to be accommodated.
“In the background, the government brought out a comprehensive package in principle for introducing a scientific method for appointment and deployment of teachers in aided schools; approval of appointment of excess teachers working without salary; revision of the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) as per the norms of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act - 2009 and the deployment of protected teachers and specialist teachers,” the order issued by the government had pointed out.
The State submitted that the prime concern of issuing the order was effective deployment of the protected and retrenched teachers.
Meanwhile, the managers submitted that the provisions were compelling them to fill the vacancies by making appointments from the ‘teachers bank’. It takes away the right of managers to keep a teacher appointed on probation and to make their own choices while appointing teachers.
The court observed that the contention of the government that the orders were issued only for the purpose of imposing some short-term restrictions for convenience is also not acceptable. The orders are contrary to the provisions contained in the Central Act. Under the provisions of the Kerala Education Rules, the manager is the appointing authority.
“It is true that private aided schools are receiving aids, subject to the control of the government in certain matters. However, that by itself will not entitle the government to enforce the provisions of the Right to Information Act against the private schools,” the court held. “The order for setting up ‘teachers bank’ for managing the transition and for introducing a scientific method for recruitment of teachers in the aided sector does not stand in the eye of law,” the court observed.



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