JUDGMENT - B.N. SRIKRISHNA, J.:---This writ petition has been placed before this Full Bench because of the view expressed by the Division Bench of Justice V.A. Mohta and Dr. B.P. Saraf, JJ. by their order dated 17th October, 1992 doubting the correctness of the view taken by another Division Bench of this Court in (Khan Abdul Hamid Abdul Razak v. Mohamed Haji Saboo Siddik Polytechnic)1, 1985 Mh.L.J. 400 in the light of subsequent Supreme Court pronouncements and suggesting its reconsideration by a larger Bench.

2. The facts of this writ petition, in so far as material to the controversy, are as under :

The petitioner is a society run by the Clergy of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nagpur, which is governed by the Code of Canon Law. It is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and conducts the St. Francis de Sales Higher Secondary School in Nagpur since 1873. The Head Master of the petitioner School is Rev. Fr. Maurice Fernandes, a Roman Catholic Priest. The petitioner is a minority educational institution run by the Christian Clergy.

3. The management of the school is in the hands of persons belonging to the minority of Christians and the school is basically run to carry forward the objects of the society.

4. There were certain vacancies of teaching and non-teaching staff which had to be filled and the petitioner published a notice in the Nagpur Times dated 21-6-1982 seeking to fill up vacancies of four Assistant Teachers, two Laboratory Assistants and one Peon. On 31-7-1982, the School Committee of the petitioner passed a resolution unanimously approving the appointments of the following candidates in the school.

1. Mrs. Deepti Prasad. Asstt. Teacher

2. Mrs. Reene E.J.D. Moraie. -"-

3. Mrs. Tilottma Trivedi. -"-

4. Miss. Amita Chabra -"-

5. Mr. Vikas Ryan Francies-Laboratory Attendant.

6. Mr. Francis Xavier Rebello -"-

7. Mr. Edward Emanuel- Peon.

The resolution also approved the promotion of John Guldekar as Jr. Clerk from the post of Laboratory Attendant with effect from 16-6-1982.

5. On 3-8-1982, the Head Master of the petitioner School addressed a letter to the Education Officer, Zilla Parishad, Nagpur, seeking approval to the appointment of the teaching and non-teaching staff mentioned above from the academic year 1982-83 onwards. The letter gave full particulars of the vacancies, the reasons leading to the vacancies and the names and particulars of the incumbents who were appointed therein. The Additional Education Officer, Zilla Parishad, Nagpur addressed a letter dated 23-8-1982 to the Head Master of the petitioner school seeking further particulars of the caste of each teacher and information as to whether there was any backlog of backward class candidates remained to be appointed. Information with regard to backlog was sought in a tabulated form as suggested. The petitioner forwarded the information sought for by its letter of 8-9-1982 in which it was specifically pointed out that the petitioner school was run by the management of minority people and the rules of backlog were not applicable to the minority run schools. By another letter dated 24-9-1982, formal proposal for approval of the appointment of teachers for the year 1982-83 was also forwarded to the Education Officer along with information as to the backlog. By a further letter dated 1-10-1982, the Additional Education Officer, Zilla Parishad sought further particulars as to the community (whether S.C. S.T. D.T./N.T. O.B.C. and others) of the staff. The petitioner by its letter dated 4-10-1982 pointed out that all the seven persons about whom information was sought belonged to open category.

6. On 14-10-1982, the Additional Education Officer informed the petitioner that the proposal submitted by the petitioner for approval of teaching and non-teaching staff had been examined, that backlog of 6 scheduled caste, 3 Scheduled Tribes, 2 N.T. and 2 O.B.C. teaches existed in the school and similarly there was a backlog of

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