NAGPURNAGPUR BENCH : NAGPURWRIT PETITION NO. 3900 OF 2026 Kum. Sunanda & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra) & Ors.
Case at a glance
Outcome
Partly allowed
Accordingly, we proceed to pass the followingorder :(i)The Writ Petition is partly allowed
Judgment
1 924-wp3900.2026+1IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAYIN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAYNAGPUR BENCH : NAGPURNAGPUR BENCH : NAGPURWRIT PETITION NO. 3900 OF 2026 Kum. Sunanda d/o Narayansa Band..VS.. The State of Maharashtra and othersWITHWRIT PETITION NO. 3703 OF 2026 Manora Shikshan Sanstha through its President Dr. Sanjay Chandansa Rothe..VS.. The State of Maharashtra and others--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Office Notes, Office Memoranda of Coram, Court's or Judge's ordersappearances, Court's orders of directionsand Registrar's orders--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Writ Petition No.3900/2026.Mr.
Rohan Joshi, Advocate for the petitioner. Mrs. H. S. Dhande, AGP for the respondent Nos.1 & 2. Writ Petition No.3703/2026.Mr. Jugalkishor Gilda, Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. Anup Gilda, Counsel for the petitioner. Mr. H. D. Futane, AGP for the respondent Nos.1 & 2. Mr. P. R. Agrawal, Advocate for the respondent No.4.Mr. Premchandra Dahake, Advocate for the Intervenor.CORAM : SMT. M.S. JAWALKAR, AND NANDESH S. DESHPANDE, JJ. DATED : 06 th MAY, 2026 WRIT PETITION NO. 3900 OF 20261.Heard. 2. By this petition, the petitioner is challenging theimpugned order/communication dated 23.04.2026, issuedby respondent No.2 – Education Officer (Secondary), ZillaParishad, Washim. 2 924-wp3900.2026+13.It is contention of the petitioner that being senior-most lady teacher, the financial and administrative powersof the headmaster of Rashtramata Indira Gandhi KanyaVidyalaya, Manora has given to the petitioner from01.09.2024 to 28.02.2025 and continued thereafter byvarious orders.
The last order is passed on 17.03.2026,whereby the said powers has been given to the petitionerfrom 01.03.2026 to 30.06.2026. Surprisingly, the EducationOfficer, vide it’s Communication dated 23.04.2026, beforethe term of the petitioner had expired, withdrawn thefinancial and administrative power given to the petitionerand directed to hand over the charge of headmaster to oneManoj Rathod. There was no opportunity of hearinggranted by the Education Officer before passing theimpugned order. 4. As such, the impugned communication dated23.04.2026 is in violation of principles of natural justiceand is liable to be quashed and set aside. 5. We have also perused the order passed in WritPetition No.2727/2025 (Manoj s/o. Prakash Rathod & Ors.vs. State of Maharashtra & Ors.), dated 10.04.2026, whichhas nothing to do with the present petition as the EducationOfficer without granting opportunity of hearing, passed theimpugned communication.
Operative part
The said communication isliable to be quashed and set aside. 3 924-wp3900.2026+16.The learned Counsel for the petitioner has drawn ourattention to the Communication dated 29.07.2025, issuedby Upper Secretary, Maharashtra State, by which the Education Officer (Secondary), Zilla Parishad, Washim wasdirected to consider the claim of the petitioner for the postof Headmistress if she is otherwise eligible, considering herseniority. Otherwise also as per Rules in girls school, seniormost lady teacher required to be appointed as Headmistress. Accordingly, we proceed to pass the followingorder :
(i)The Writ Petition is partly allowed.
(ii)The impugned communication dated 23.04.2026 ishereby quashed and set aside. In consequence, thepetitioner shall exercise the financial andadministrative power as granted by the EducationOfficer vide its communication dated 17.03.2026, tilldecision is taken by the respondent No.2.
(iii)The respondent No.2 is directed to grant opportunityof hearing to the petitioner before taking any decisionfor withdrawal of the financial and administrativepowers given to the petitioner and same be donewithin a period of four weeks.
(iv)The respondent No.2 is also directed to take adecision as per direction issued by the UpperSecretary, Maharashtra State and consider the claim 4 924-wp3900.2026+1of the petitioner for appointment as Headmistress togirls school. At any rate, prima facie we are satisfiedthat being a girl school, only senior lady teacher canbe appointed as Headmistress. The Education Officerto consider the same while taking decision regardingappointment of Headmistress.WRIT PETITION NO. 3703 OF 20261.In view of order passed by this Court in Writ PetitionNo.3900/2026, this petition does not survive, hence it isdisposed of. (NANDESH S. DESHPANDE, J.) (M.S. JAWALKAR, J.) Kirtak
Precedent status how later indexed judgments have treated this case
No known negative treatment found in the Courts & Cases corpus.
This is a result about the indexed corpus, not a finding that the judgment remains good law. Coverage may be incomplete.