Summary
A Jain minority trust running a government-aided secondary school in Gujarat continued its Principal beyond 60 years and claimed grant-in-aid for his salary; the District Education Officer refused, and the Gujarat High Court held the refusal violative of Article 30(1) and directed payment of arrears of grant for 2001 to 2012. The Supreme Court allowed the State's appeal: Regulation 36 of the Secondary Education Regulations, 1974 on superannuation does not apply to minority institutions by virtue of Regulation 43, so paragraphs 81.1 and 81.2 of the Grant-in-Aid Code, providing retirement at 58 with extension to 60, govern aided minority schools; following T.M.A. Pai Foundation and Abhay Nandan Inter College, conditions for aid apply uniformly to minority and non-minority institutions, an aided institution is bound by them, and no discrimination under Article 30(2) was shown.
Issues
- Whether the State's refusal to pay grant-in-aid towards the salary of the Principal of an aided minority secondary school after he attained the age of superannuation under the Grant-in-Aid Code is arbitrary or violative of Article 30(1) of the Constitution.
Provisions considered
- Article 30(1) and (2), Constitution of IndiaThe right to administer a minority institution is not absolute; conditions relating to proper utilisation of a grant may be imposed uniformly on majority and minority institutions, and Article 30(2) only forbids discrimination in aid on the ground of minority management, of which there was no evidence. (¶¶ 4, 9, 10, 11)
- Regulations 36, 42 and 43, Gujarat Secondary Education Regulations, 1974Regulation 36 fixes superannuation at 58 and bars re-employment thereafter; Regulation 42 makes the Regulations prevail over the Grant-in-Aid Code on matters they cover; Regulation 43 excludes Regulation 36 for minority institutions, so superannuation in aided minority schools is governed by the Code instead. (¶¶ 5, 7)
- Paragraphs 81.1, 81.2 and 81.5, Grant-in-Aid Code for Secondary Schools (Notification dated 22.04.1964)An aided secondary school teacher ordinarily retires at 58 and the management may extend service up to 60; a school continuing a teacher beyond that age is not entitled to grant for the expenditure so incurred, and no institution can claim aid dehors the Code. (¶¶ 6, 8, 9)
Held
- Refusal of grant on the Principal reaching superannuation under the Code cannot by any stretch be treated as interference with the minority institution's affairs; as held in T.M.A. Pai Foundation, conditions for grant or non-grant of aid must be uniformly applied, and as reiterated in Abhay Nandan Inter College an institution receiving aid is bound by the conditions imposed. (¶¶ 9, 10, 11)
Result
Appeal allowed; Gujarat High Court Division Bench judgment dated 02.04.2018 in LPA No. 175 of 2017, confirming the Single Judge's order dated 24.06.2016 in Special Civil Application No. 3250 of 2001, set aside.