IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH.
Civil Writ Petition No. 7121 of 2010
DATE OF DECISION : MARCH 20, 2012
ARUN KUMAR
....... PETITIONER
VERSUS
STATE OF HARYANA & ORS.
.... RESPONDENTS
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJAN GOGOI, CHIEF JUSTICE
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE MAHESH GROVER
PRESENT: Mr. GP Singh, Advocate, for the petitioner.
Mr. Narender Hooda, Senior Additional Advocate
General, Haryana.
RANJAN GOGOI, C.J. (Oral)
This Public Interest Litigation has been filed seeking
directions from the Court for appointment of adequate teachers
in the Government Primary Schools and Government Middle
Schools named in the writ petition. According to the petitioner,
there is a shortage of JBT Teachers in the said schools and
particularly after coming into force of the Right of Children to
Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (hereinafter referred to
as 'the Act'), the student-teacher ratio in the schools in question
has drastically fallen in comparison to what has been prescribed
under the Act. Hence the writ petition seeks the directions earlier
noticed.
On the strength of several orders passed by the Court
Civil Writ Petition No. 7121 of 2010 2
from time to time, particularly the order dated 12.3.2012, the
Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary to Government
of Haryana, School Education Department has filed an affidavit
in Court today giving the details of the number of JBT Teachers
required to be appointed in the State under the Act; the number
of sanctioned posts of JBT Teachers; the shortfall; the number of
Teachers actually working and the vacancies available. The
above figures which have been compiled in the form of a chart
mentioned in para-6 of the affidavit indicates that 1189 posts of
JBT Teachers are required to be sanctioned and 10414 posts out
of the sanctioned posts are vacant. Insofar as the additional
vacancies are concerned, in the affidavit filed it has been stated
that the said posts will be included in the Annual Plan 2012-13
for the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan and would be submitted to the
Government of India for its approval as the financial liability on
the said account is to be shared between the Central
Government and the State Government. In the affidavit filed, it
has further been stated that on receiving the necessary
approval from the Government of India, the posts will be filled
up by a process of fresh recruitment. Insofar as the vacant
posts (10414 numbers) are concerned, it has been stated that
recruitment against 544 posts of JBT Urdu Teachers is being
undertaken separately and a requisition has been sent to the
Haryana School Teachers Selection Board for filling up the
remaining 9870 posts. In para-10 of the affidavit, it has been
stated that on the basis of the discussions held with the
Haryana School Teachers Selection Board a tentative schedule
Civil Writ Petition No. 7121 of 2010 3
has been worked out for filling up 9870 posts. According to the
said schedule, commencing with the advertisement and ending
with the sending of recommendations to the Government, a
total of 322 days (tentatively) are required for completion of the
process by the Board. In the affidavit filed it has been further
stated that 1685 surplus Teachers have been identified in 1058
schools throughout the State and the process of deployment of
such Teachers is already under process.
The affidavit dated 19.3.2012 of the Financial
Commissioner and Principal Secretary to Government of
Haryana, School Education Department filed in Court today
indicates the roadmap that the State has drawn for itself for
filling up the required posts of JBT Teachers so as to conform to
the provisions of the Act. Reading the affidavit of the Principal
Secretary, the Court finds that the State is committed to initiate
and complete the process of creation of posts and filling up the
same (1189 numbers); the process of adjustment of 1685
surplus Teachers and also the process of appointment against
9870 vacant posts of JBT Teachers.
In view of the above, we do not think it would be
necessary for us to continue to monitor the actions of the State
any further. On the contrary, we deem it appropriate to close
the writ petition by directing the State of Haryana to initiate and
complete the necessary action in terms of the averments made
in the affidavit dated 19.3.2012 of the Financial Commissioner
and Principal Secretary to Government of Haryana, School
Education Department and to adhere to the various time
Civil Writ Petition No. 7121 of 2010 4
schedules mentioned in the said affidavit. We also make it clear
that no major departure from the schedule set out in the
affidavit or the plan of action contemplated therein will be made
by the State and any such departure will be viewed by this Court
as a violation of the present order.
The Public Interest Litigation stands closed in terms
of the above directions.
( RANJAN GOGOI )
CHIEF JUSTICE
March 20, 2012 ( MAHESH GROVER )
Kang JUDGE
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT
