( 1 ) IN all these writ petitions the dispute is regarding the transfer of Parasara Bharathi oriental Elementary School, Kandukur. Hence these writ petitions are being disposed of by a common order.

( 2 ) W. P. NO. 9047 of 1999 and W. P. No. 34050 of 1998 are filed by the teachers of the said school whose posts were admitted to grant-in-aid. W. P. No. 21146 of 1999 is filed pro bono publico by four petitioners who are parents of the children studying in Parasara Bharathi School (PBS), in the two writ petitions filed by the teachers, they impugne the validity of the proceedings issued by the District educational Officer, Ongole (hereafter called the DEO ) in R. C. No. 2124/b3/98, dated 27-8-1998. In the other writ petition, the petitioners pray for a declaration that the action of the DEO and the Director of school Education in seeking to close down the PBS as illegal and contrary to the provisions of the A. P. Education Act, 1982 ( the Act for brevity ).

( 3 ) THE admitted facts relevant for the purpose of deciding the issue in these three writ petitions may be noticed briefly.

( 4 ) AT or about 1972, an educational society by name Bharathi Vidya Parishad (BVP) started PBS and the same was admitted to grant-in-aid and there were five posts of secondary grade teachers in the said school which are held by the petitioner in W. P. No. 9047 of 1999 and the petitioners in W. P. No. 34040 of 1998 and another. Till 1987, the school was run effectively with a student strength of about 200. Though, allegedly, BVP was owning Ac. 0. 86 cents of land, no permanent building was constructed and the school was being run in rented buildings. In 1996, the strength of the school came down to 36 and therefore running the school became uneconomic. The DEO got an inspection done and found that as on 19-12-1996 there were only 37 students and therefore a show-cause notice was issued by the DEO in R. C. No. 9250-B3/96, dated 26-5-1997 as to why the school should not be ordered to be closed down and as to why salaries to the teachers should not be stopped. The Correspondent, in his reply dated 5-6-1997 informed that he had no objection if the DEO takes action in accordance with the provisions of law. Therefore, as an alternative, the DEO requested the Correspondent to transfer the school to one Chenna Veera Raghavulu and requested the Correspondent to give willingness who gave consent to surrender the teachers to any other needy aided school or local body which is permissible as per the guidelines issued by the government in G. O. Ms. No. 49, Education dept, dated 26-2-1998. Be that as it may, the teachers were called for counselling on 15-7-1998 and during the counselling the teachers expressed their willingness/gave option for shifting their posts to the needy schools as well as schools run by Panchayat raj Department. In the meanwhile, the first respondent in the proceedings dated 27-8-1998 accepted the transfer of the school by PBS to one Keshav Memorial Education society (KMS), Kandukur, which is contrary to the Act and the A. P. Educational institutions (Establishment, Recognition, administration and Control) Rules, 1993 (hereafter called the Rules ). Pursuant to the impugned order, the Secretary and correspondent of KMS issued orders on 2-9-1998 directing the teachers to join the duties in PBS which was transferred to KMS functioning at 24th Ward of the said town. The teachers challenge the proceedings of the DEO dated 27-8-1998 and the consequential orders inter alia on the ground that the proceedings of the DEO is in violation of Sections 20 and 53 of the Act and Rules 6 to 9 and Rule 10 of the Rules.

( 5 ) A common counter-affidavit is filed in all these writ petitions by the DEO. The averments of the counter-affidavit are as follows. The school started by BVP is a recognised school with four aided posts of secondary grade teachers and one aided post of Sanskrit Pandit. During the year 1997-98, the school was conducted un