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 2 Scientific 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 3 for 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 4 not 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 5 who 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 6 evidence, 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 7 it 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