High Court
Legal Reasoning
{5} wp 14689.23 R.odt“5. When the aforesaid facts are not in dispute, we seeno reason for the Deputy Director, Education to againdig out the issue of grant of approval to theappointment of Petitioner to aided post upon histransfer from unaided post, when it comes to inclusionof the name of the Petitioner in the Shalarth system.The Shalarth System has been initiated for facilitatingthe on-line payment of salary to the school employeesby streamlining the whole system. When such is theobject of the Shalarth system, the Deputy Director,Education cannot again look into the irregularity orotherwise caused in granting the approval to theappointment of the school employees by the EducationOfficer.”7.Similarly, in the case of Pramod Prabhakar Pophale vs. Stateof Maharashtra reported in 2019(3) Bom.C.R. 273 this Court held thatonce approval is granted by Education Officer to the appointment ofschool employee, the Deputy Director, Education would have nojurisdiction to refuse to enter the name of the school employee inShalarth System. We find that the aforesaid legal principles espoused bythis Court would squarely apply to the present case.8.In that view of the matter, we proceed to pass the followingorder :-O R D E R[a]The writ petition is partly allowed.[b]Impugned order dated 2.2.2023 passed by the respondent No.2 is quashed and set aside; {6} wp 14689.23 R.odt[c]Respondent No.2 shall forthwith grant approval to proposal received from the respondent No.3 Education Officer for inclusion of petitioner’s name in Shalarth System and take further steps to release his salary.[d]Writ petition is disposed of.[S.G. CHAPALGAONKAR, J] [ SMT. VIBHA KANKANWADI, J] grt/-
Arguments
{1} wp 14689.23 R.odtIN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAYBENCH AT AURANGABADWRIT PETITION NO. 14689 OF 2023Varad Sanjay MuthalAge 26 years, Oc. Service,R/o. Samatanagar, Rajmata Colony,Savedi, Ahmednagar. .. PETITIONERVERSUS1.State of Maharashtrathrough its Secretary,School Education Department,Mantralaya, Mumbai.2. Deputy Director of Education,Pune Division, Pune,17, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Road,Camp, Pune.3.Education Officer (Secondary),Zilla Parishad, Ahmednagar,Zilla Parishad Campus, Ahmednagar... RESPONDENTS.Mr. S.V. Dixit, Advocate for petitioner Mr. A.M. Phule, AGP for respondent Nos. 1 to 3. CORAM : SMT. VIBHA KANKANWADI & S.G. CHAPALGAONKAR, JJ. RESERVED ON : 8TH APRIL, 2024PRONOUNCED ON : 16TH APRIL, 2024. JUDGMENT : (PER S.G. CHAPALGAONKAR, J.] {2} wp 14689.23 R.odt1.The petitioner approached this Court under Article 226 ofthe Constitution of India impugning the order dated 2..2.2023, passed bythe Deputy Director of Education – respondent No.2, thereby decliningthe proposal to include petitioner’s name in Shalarth System; furtherseeking consequential directions to release the salary and arrears.2.Mr. S.V. Dixit, learned advocate appearing for the petitionersubmits that Hind Seva Mandal – Educational Trust run Modern HighSchool, at Akole. Two posts of Laboratory Assistant were vacant atModern High School and those were advertised on 13.11.2018. Petitionerbeing qualified, made application in response to the advertisement. Hewas interviewed and selected after following due process of law.Consequently, appointment order dated 1.1.2019 came to be issued in hisfavour. The management submitted proposal seeking approval to thepetitioner’s appointment on 26.4.2019. The respondent No.2 DeputyDirector of Education granted approval to such appointment on non-grant basis.3.Mr. Dilip Vinayak Bhalerao was working as LaboratoryAssistant on grant-in-aid section on the post of Laboratory Assistant. Onaccount of his unfortunate death a vacancy arose in the school. Themanagement passed resolution to transfer the services of the petitionerfrom un-aided to aided section of Modern High School. Consequently,transfer order dated 30.4.2007 came to be issued to the petitioner. Thepetitioner joined the services on 2.5.2020. The proposal for approval ofpetitioners transfer / appointment from un-aided to aided section wasforwarded to the respondent No.3 – Education Officer. The respondentNo.3 granted approval to posting of petitioner as Laboratory Assistant on {3} wp 14689.23 R.odtaided section. Thereafter, the proposal for inclusion of the petitioner’sname in ‘Shalarth System’ was forwarded to the respondent No.2.Respondent No.2 vide impugned order dated 2.2.2023, rejected theproposal for inclusion of petitioner’s name in Shalarth System on theground that there was a ban on the recruitment of non-teaching posts.Mr. Dixit would submit that once approval to transfer is granted in favourof the petitioner by the competent authority i.e. Education Officer, therespondent No.2 had no occasion to refuse the proposal for inclusion ofthe petitioner’s name in the Shalarth System. To buttress his arguments,he relies upon the orders passed by this Court in W.P. No. 8966 of 2021 inthe case of Amol Sangar Vs State of Maharashtra dated 21.2.2022; theorder dated 13.7.2023 in W.P. No. 8643 of 2022 in case of Rahul ThosareVs. State of Maharashtra and order dated 3.7.2023 in W.P. No. 7292 of2023 in case of Vinayak Dudhate vs. State of Maharashtra.4.Mr. A.M. Phule, learned AGP appearing for respondent Nos.1 to 3 supports the impugned order.5.We have considered the submissions advanced by learnedadvocate for respective parties and perused the record tendered intoservice. It appears that pursuant to advertisement dated 30.11.2018, thepetitioner was appointed as Laboratory Assistant on un-aided divisionvide order dated 1.1.2019 at Modern High School and Junior College,Akole. The Deputy Director of Education granted approval to thepetitioner’s appointment vide order dated 26th April, 2019. Thereafter,the post of Laboratory Assistant on aided division of Modern High Schoolfell vacant on account of unfortunate death of Mr. Bhalerao, who wasoccupying the said post. The school management transferred the services {4} wp 14689.23 R.odtof the petitioner against the vacancy on aided division vide order dated30.4.2020. The petitioner joined as Full Time Laboratory Assistant w.e.f.2.5.2020. the Education Officer granted approval to the transfer of thepetitioner vide his order dated 20.7.2020. Consequently , proposal wasforwarded to the office of respondent No.2 for inclusion of thepetitioner’s name on Shalarth System. It appears that certain deficiencieswere pointed out by the office of the respondent No.2. Those deficiencieswere removed by the school authorities. However, respondent No.2 videorder dated 2.2.2023, declined to grant proposal for inclusion ofpetitioner ‘s name in Shalarth system giving the reason that there was aban on recruitment of non-teaching staff.6.Pertinently, the record indicates that the petitioner wasinitially appointed on an un-aided division and his services weretransferred from un-aided to aided division. His initial appointment onthe un-aided division and subsequent transfer on aided division has beenduly approved by the competent authorities. However, the proposal toinclude the petitioner’s name on Shalarth System is rejected giving somedifferent reason. Record indicates that as per the staffing pattern, thepost of Laboratory Assistant was available with the school and it wasoccupied by Mr. Dilip Bhalerao. On his sudden death, the petitioner hasbeen transferred against said vacancy. Apparently, this is not a case ofnew appointment. In fact, it is a case transfer from un-aided to aideddivision The transfer is duly approved by the Education Officer. In thisbackground, the respondent No.2 had no reason to dig any other reasonwhile dealing with the proposal for inclusion of petitioner’s name in theShalarth System. This Court in the case of “Amol Sangar” (cited supra)observed in para. No.5 as under :-