IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) THURSDAY, THE FOURTH DAY OF JUNE TWO THOUSAND AND SEVEN PRESENT THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION NO : 4452 of 2006 Between: B.Muralidhar, s/o late Krishna Murthy, r/o Gadwal, Mahaboobnagar District. ..... PETITIONER AND 1 The Director of School Education, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Saifabad, Hyderabad. 2 Regional Joint Director, School Education, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Kachiguda, Hyderabad. 3 The District Educational Officer, Mahaboobnagar, Mahaboobnagar District. 4 The Deputy District Educational Officer, Gadwal, Mahaboobnagar District. 5 Smt.M.Victoria Devakumari, Gadwal, Mahaboobnagar District. 6 The Government of Andhra Pradesh represented by its Secretary, Education Department (Secondary & School) Secretariat, Hyderabad. .....RESPONDENT(S) Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Affidavit filed herein the High Court will be pleased to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction more particularly one in the nature of WRIT OF CERTIORARI call for records leading to proceedings in Rc.No.809/B4-4/2003 dated 30-11-2005 of 1st respondent and quash the same and pass such other order or orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.C.S.K.V.RAMANAMURTHY Counsel for the Respondent No.: GP FOR EDUCATION The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE MS JUSTICE G.ROHINI WRIT PETITION No. 4452 of 2006 ORDER: This writ petition is filed seeking a certiorari to call for the records relating to the order dated 30.11.2005 passed by the 1st respondent under Section 24 (4) of the A.P.Education Act 1982 declaring the writ petitioner as unfit to act as Correspondent of Sri Ravindra High School (Aided), Gadwal, Mahabubnagar District, as arbitrary and illegal. During the pendency of this writ petition, the order passed by the 1st respondent was confirmed on appeal under Section 89 (b) of A.P. Education Act 1982 by the 6th respondent-Government of Andhra Pradesh. Accordingly, the prayer in the writ petition has been amended seeking a further declaration that the order passed by the 6th respondent in G.O.Rt.No.760, Education (SE-PS-1) Department is also arbitrary and illegal. The facts in brief are as under:- The petitioner was appointed as Correspondent in Sri Ravindra High School (Aided) Gadwal and the same was approved by the Commissioner and Director of School Education, Hyderabad in June 2003. While so, a Show Cause Notice dated 25.8.2005 was issued by the Director of School Education A.P., Hyderabad alleging that the petitioner committed certain irregularities and calling upon him to show cause as to why he should not be declared as unfit to be a Correspondent under Section 24 (4) of the A.P.Education Act 1982. Since the said show cause notice was based on certain representations said to have been made by the General Secretary, Democratic Teachers Federation Hyderabad and the enquiry report of the Deputy Education Officer, Gadwal, the petitioner, by letter dated 12.9.2005, requested the 1st respondent to furnish the copies of the said documents. However, the 1st respondent failed to furnish the documents required by the petitioner. In spite of the same, the petitioner submitted a detailed explanation dated 7.10.2005 denying all the allegations made against him. Altogether, 51 documents were enclosed to substantiate the stand taken by the petitioner in his explanation dated 7.10.2005. The petitioner had also made it clear that the said explanation may not be treated as conclusive since the documents cited by him were not furnished and reserved his right to submit further explanation if necessary on receipt of the copies of the documents as requested by him. Thereafter, the impugned order dated 30.11.2005 came to be passed by the 1st respondent stating that the irregularities mentioned in the show cause notice were proved and that the petitioner had violated Rules 10 (29), 10 (30), 10 (32), 12 and 19 of the Rules made under G.O.Ms.No.1/Education, dated 01.01.1994. Accordingly, the petitioner was declared as unfit to act as Correspondent of the school. The appeal preferred by the petitioner under Section 89 of the A.P Education Act was dismissed by the Government of A.P., simply confirming the findings recorded by the 1st respondent. The said orders passed by respondent Nos.1 and 6 are under challenge in this writ petition. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned Government Pleader appearing for the respondents and perused the material on record. At the out set, it is to be noted that in the order dated 30.11.2005, except extracting the irregularities alleged in the show cause notice and concluding that after examining the explanation of the Correspondent the said irregularities were found to be proved, no reasons were assigned by the 1st respondent to substantiate his conclusion. Even the 6th respondent-Appellate Authority failed to assign any reasons and merely confirmed the order passed by the 1st respondent. Section 24 (4) of the A.P Education Act 1982, provides that when the competent authority declares a person to be unfit to be a manager of the private institution, he shall record the reasons in writing while making such order. Apparently, the impugned order dated 30.11.2005 was in contravention of the mandatory requirement of Section 24 (4) of the Act apart from being in violation of the principles of natural justice. Therefore, on that ground itself the impugned order dated 30.11.2005 as confirmed on appeal dated 23.11.2006, are liable to be set aside. Accordingly, without going into the merits of the case and without expressing any opinion as to the correctness of the allegations made against the petitioner, the impugned orders dated 30.11.2005 and 23.11.2006 are hereby set aside and the writ petition is disposed of, leaving it open to the 1st respondent to pass appropriate orders afresh in accordance with law. No costs. _______________ Justice G.Rohini Date:04.06.2009 mrb