CWP No. 18235 of 2009 1
IN THE PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT AT
CHANDIGARH
CWP No. 18235 of 2009
Date of Decision : 2.12.2009
Parminder Pal Kaur
.......... Petitioner
Versus
Shrimomani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee, Amritsar & others
...... Respondents
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VINOD K. SHARMA
Present : Mr. G.S. Bal, Advocate
for the petitioner.
****
VINOD K. SHARMA, J. (ORAL)
This writ petition under Article 226/227 of the Constitution of
India is directed against the issuance of charge sheet attached as Annexure
P-13 and the order of suspension passed by the Director Education,
Shiromani Gurudwara Parbhandak Committee, 6-Kalidhar Niwas, Sector
27-B, Chandigarh and Nankana Sahib Education Trust, Gill Park, Ludhiana,
through its President.
Paras 3 & 4 of the writ petition read as under :-
“3. That it may not be out of
place to mention here that
Nankana Sahib Education Trust-
Respondent No.3 is a Trust
which was created in the year
1954 with object to provide
all types of Engineering and
CWP No. 18235 of 2009 2Scientific Education and
Training to the weaker,
backward and poor sections of
the Society with particular
emphasis on rural candidates.
The President of Shiromani
Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee
(constituted under the
provisioins of Sikh Gurdwaras
Act. 1925) is ex-officio
President of the Education
Trust-respondent No.3. Besides
this there are other posts of
Vice Presidents, Secretary and
9 Members of SGPC out of total
16 are appointed by General
Body of SGPC besides other
trustees of the said trust.
Thus SGPC has complete control
over the institutions being
run by the Trust. The Managing
Committee of and Education
Institution could be
constituted by the Board of
Trustees. The provision
regarding office holders of
the Managing Committee are
mentioned under Para 10 of
Clause VII of the Trust Rules,
which can be produced at the
time of hearing if directed by
the Hon’ble Bench. However,
the aforesaid para 10 being
relevant is reproduced below
CWP No. 18235 of 2009 3for ready reference :-
(VII)(10) Office Holders of
the Managing Committee :
(a) The President of the
Board shall be the ex-officio
Chairman of every Managing
Committee appointed under this
instrument. He shall preside
and perform such other duties
as are entrusted to him by the
rules and regulations.
(b) Every Management
Committee shall elect one
Vice-Chairman from amongst its
members who shall perform
duties of Chairman in his
absence.
(c) The Principal of an
institution managed by the
Trust shall be the Secretary
of the Managing Committee of
that institution and he shall
perform such duties as are
entrusted to him by the rules
made by the Managing Committee
and approved by the Board.
4. That respondent No.2-
Trust is running amongst
others Guru Nanak Dev
Engineering College at
Ludhiana besides running
Nankana Sahib Public School,
Ludhiana where petitioner is
teaching. The said School is
CWP No. 18235 of 2009 4not receiving any grant from
the Punjab Govt. The service
conditions of the employees of
Nankana Sahib Public School a
re governed by the rules known
as Nankana Sahib Education
Trust Public School Employees
Rules, relevant provisions
which are reproduced below for
ready reference :-
Rule 1 : These rules shall
be known as the Nankana Sahib
Education Trust Public School
Employees Rules.
Rule 6 : All appointments
of all categories of employees
are made by the Managing
Committee either by direct
recruitment or by promotion
and in accordance with and
upon such condition as the
Managing Committee may decide.
Rule 12 : The Managing
Committee may terminate the
service of an employee, after
he/she is confirmed for
reasons of retrenchment
because of abolition of a
subject, class or department,
after giving such an employee
three months notice, provided
however, that such an employee
shall receive as compensation
as many month’s pay for those
CWP No. 18235 of 2009 5who have served for more than
twelve years.
Rule 15 : The service of a
permanent employee may be
terminated on grounds of
insubordination to the
Management or Principal or
Headmistress. Inefficiency in
his/her work, neglect of duty
assigned to him/her,
misconduct, moral delinquency,
contagious disease or for any
other cause which make the
employee unsuitable or
undesirable for retention in
service, provided that before
such termination is made due
enquiry committee appointed
for the purpose. The enquiry
committee shall consist of the
Secretary and two other
representatives of the
Management. Before such
enquiry is held, the secretary
shall obtain the employee’s
explanation on the charges
made against him/her. During
the enquiry the employee shall
be given reasonable
opportunity of being heard in
respect of the charges made
against him/her to defend
himself by means of a written
statement as well as leading
CWP No. 18235 of 2009 6evidence, if any. In case the
employee does not present
himself before the enquiry
committee after due notice
sent by Regd. Post
acknowledgment due, exparte
decision will be given by the
enquiry committee, which shall
be binding on the employee.
If after such enquiry the
decision of the Enquiry
Committee is to be effect that
it is undesirable to continue
his/her services or that he
may be awarded a lower
punishment including a fine,
ensure, withholding of
increments for not more than 2
stages, loss caused by
negligence or breach of orders
of the management and
department, the Secretary
shall propose to impose any
penalty including termination
of service and give him or her
reasonable opportunity of
making representations on the
penalty proposed, but only on
the basis of the evidence
produced during such enquiry.
The management shall
after considering such
representation made by the
employee impose any penalty as
CWP No. 18235 of 2009 7it deems fit which shall be
binding on the employees and a
copy of the order by a
resolution of the management
shall be communicated to the
employee within 7 days.
Rule 17 : It shall be
competent for the management
to suspend the teacher during
the course of the enquiry but
the teacher may be given
subsistence allowance at the
scale that is generally
applied to Govt. servants
during the period of
suspension.”
The reading of the pleadings, referred to above, would show
that the college being run by the Nankana Sahib Education Trust, which is
a Trust registered by the trustees of the college. With passage of time
certain amendments have been made. The constitution of the Nankana
Sahib Education Trust shows that respondent No.3, which is running the
college cannot be said to be within the Article 12 of the Constitution of
India, therefore, this writ petition against the Trust or college is not
competent.
Dismissed as not competent.
2.12.2009 ( VINOD K. SHARMA ) 'sp' JUDGE