Chandigarh
The Punjab and Haryana high court stayed the appointment of deputy district education officer, Patiala as administrator of Mohindra Kanya Maha Vidyala (MKMV), Patiala.
He was appointed on March 9 by the director school education (secondary), Punjab.
The bench of justice Pankaj Jain observed that it was sad to see that an aided educational institution was being repeatedly forced to spend its resources to save its autonomy and itself from being poached at the hands of a public authority. While staying the order, the court asked the director school education to file an affidavit explaining the conduct of his office by the next date of hearing which is scheduled on July 9.
MKMV was established in 1949 and is a government-aided school located in Patiala town. The managing committee of the school had challenged the appointment order of March 9 terming it “illegal and arbitrary”.
The allegations included non-payment of salaries to the staff and irregularities by the management.
The school’s counsel, Kapil Kakkar, submitted that the director had no authority under any law, statute, regulation, or rule to make such an appointment and the order was without jurisdiction and an attempt to “hijack the management of the school which was running smoothly”.
{{/usCountry}}The school’s counsel, Kapil Kakkar, submitted that the director had no authority under any law, statute, regulation, or rule to make such an appointment and the order was without jurisdiction and an attempt to “hijack the management of the school which was running smoothly”.
{{/usCountry}}It was further alleged that the order was passed with mala fide intention at the behest of the District Education Officer, Patiala who was “having a grudge towards the management” for long and had been creating hurdles in functioning of the school. The court was informed that a similar attempt was made earlier as well.