Employees of private schools, not being State instrumentalities, must seek redress before competent forums.

In brief

The question

Whether an employee appointed and paid by a privately managed school, whose appointment was neither made nor approved by the Government, could seek relief under Article 226 of the Constitution against the private Management.

The court held

The writ appeal was allowed. The order dated 19 June 2023 in W.P. No. 32633 of 2022 was set aside, while liberty was granted to the first respondent to approach the competent forum for appropriate relief.

It also directed

No order as to costs was made, and the connected miscellaneous petitions were closed.

01Facts

R. Thirunavukarasu, the first respondent, was appointed by the HVF English Medium Educational Society, which runs Vijayanta Senior Secondary School, a privately managed school.

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He received his salary from the Management, and his appointment was neither made nor approved by the Government.

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After continuing as a Management employee until retirement, he filed W.P. No. 32633 of 2022 seeking a writ of mandamus to treat his service as regular until 31 January 2025 and to grant consequential benefits.

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The Society challenged the order dated 19 June 2023 passed by the Single Judge in the writ petition through the present writ appeal.

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02Issues

i.Whether an employee appointed and paid by a privately managed school, whose appointment was neither made nor approved by the Government, could seek relief under Article 226 of the Constitution against the private Management.

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ii.Whether the first respondent was required to approach a competent forum other than the High Court for redressal of his service-related grievance.

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03Law Applied

The Court applied the constitutional principle that a private school or private educational society, not being “State” within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution, is ordinarily not amenable to writ jurisdiction for private service disputes.

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It further applied the principle that employees of private management must approach the competent statutory or other appropriate forum for redressal of employment grievances, particularly where the appointment is neither made nor approved by the Government.

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04Reasoning

The Court found that the first respondent’s employment relationship was exclusively with the HVF English Medium Educational Society. His appointment was not by the Government, his service was not Government-approved, and his salary was paid by the private Management.

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Since Vijayanta Senior Secondary School was a private school and did not constitute “State” under Article 12, the Society was not amenable to the writ relief sought in the circumstances. The appropriate remedy was therefore before the competent forum dealing with service disputes involving private Management employees.

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