Point of Law : As per Section 10 of the Delhi School Education Act, 1973, employees of private schools have to be considered at par with employees of government schools so far as grant of monetary benefits are concerned.

JUDGMENT :

V. Kameswar Rao, J.

1. This petition has been filed with the following prayers :

(i) issue a writ of mandamus or any other similar writ or order quashing and/or setting aside the (illegal) order dated 20.11.2019 issued by the Deputy Director of Education (District North) rejecting the request of the Petitioner for payment of her salary from the date of her appointment (being 22.12.2018);

(ii) issue a writ of mandamus or any other similar writ or order directing the Respondents to make payment to the Petitioner her salary as per law from the date of her appointment (being 22.12.2018);

(iii) issue a writ of mandamus or any other similar writ or order directing the Respondents to continue to make payment of salary to the Petitioner in future as per law; &

(iv) pass such other and further orders as this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances of the present case.

2. The respondent No. 2, a Minority Aided School, published an advertisement in the newspaper of the employment exchange dated June 2, 2018 to June 8, 2018 inviting applications for one post of Librarian, along with 32 other posts. The petitioner herein applied for the post of Librarian and was called by the Management of the respondent No.2 School for verification of documents vide letter dated November 17, 2018. Subsequently, vide letter dated November 27, 2018, respondent No.2 School directed the petitioner to appear before the Staff Selection Committee for interview on December 7, 2018. The petitioner duly appeared for the interview and on successfully qualifying, was issued an offer of appointment to the post of Librarian by the respondent No.2 School vide letter dated December 20, 2018. The petitioner joined the respondent No. 2 School with effect from December 22, 2018, and has been working as a Librarian in the respondent No. 2 school since then.

3. It is stated by Mr. Deeptakirti Verma, learned counsel for the petitioner that at the time of the advertisement, the petitioner was 36 years of age, as her date of birth is March 12, 1982. During the selection process, the petitioner had claimed age relaxation up to ten years available to women candidates for appointment as teachers. He has placed reliance on an order of the Assistant Director of Education (Admn.) bearing No. DE-4(9)/67/E-IV/651-667 dated January 21, 2011 wherein it is stated as under: -

"The post of librarian in Government School of Directorate of Education, Govt. of NCT of Delhi is hereby declared as Teaching Post for all purposes with immediate effect and accordingly the librarian shall avail all benefits applicable to teaching category."

4. He would submit that in view of the above order, it is a settled legal position that a Librarian in a Government or Government aided school would enjoy parity with a teacher, in all aspects including terms of employment, working conditions, salary etc. Therefore, there is no illegality in the grant of age relaxation to the petitioner, nor could her appointment be faulted on that ground.

5. It is the case of the petitioner as averred by Mr. Verma that from the very beginning of her service, her salary was not released by the respondent No. 2 School even though the salaries of all other staff members selected/appointed along with the petitioner through the same advertisement were duly paid every month. On April 6, 2019, the petitioner received a memorandum from respondent No. 2, informing her that respondent No. 1 had raised certain objections regarding her appointment on the ground of her being over-age. The petitioner submitted a response dated April 18, 2019 to the said memorandum, setting out the position as stated above.

6. Subsequently, the petitioner sent a representation dated November 18, 2019 to the respondent No. 2 School with copies marked to the respondent No. 1, seeking release of her salary. Shortly thereafter, the petitioner received an order dated November 20, 2019, issued by the Deputy Director of Education (North Dist