J. B. MEHTA, P. D. DESAI, J.

( 1 ) THE petitioners members of the teaching and non-teaching staff of Sharda Vidyalaya Bhat village Daskroi Taluka Ahmedabad District which is a private registered Secondary School have filed this contempt petition against the Manager of the school joined as Respondents Nos. 1 and 2 Chandubhai P. Amin who is also the Managing Trustee of the trust in question and against the District Education Officer who is joined as Respondent No. 3.

( 2 ) THE case of the petitioners is that they had not been paid their salary and that is why they had approached by an application under the Gujarat Secondary Education Act 1972 to the Education Tribunal. The Tribunal has disposed of this matter by the final order dated October 15 1976 The Managing Trustee Chandubhai P. Amin appeared in that matter. His plea was that he had not received the grant from the Government. He assured the Tribunal to take adequate steps to pay the arrears of salary of all these persons. The Tribunal held that it was not proper on the part of the management not to take any steps for the payment of the salary of these employees including the teachers on the ground that administration of the school was to be banded over to the village people. There was even no evidence on record to show that the school was to be handed over to the village people. As the management had flouted its obligation to pay salary to all these employees including the teachers concerned the Tribunal had passed the following order :the application succeeds. It is declarged that Shri S. R. Patel Shri Haribhai Patel and Shri Valand are entitled to receive their salary from March 1976 till to date Shri P. B. Patel Shri P. K. Chauhan and Shri V. R. Patel should be paid their salary from July 1976 and Shri R. G. Darji should be paid his salary from the date of this appointment till 14-6-1976 as a clerk and thereafter as a peon. The management is directed to pay their arrears of salary forthwith. The D. E. O. is requested to see that the management paid their salary. Ho is also requested to see that Government paid the instalment of the grant which the school may be entitled to receive so that the arrears of salary may be paid to the employees at an early date.

( 3 ) IT is the case of the petitioners that after the said award of the Tribunal the petitioners applied to the President Bhavan Education Trust which was the trust running the respondent school for making payment of the salary as directed by the Tribunal. A similar application was made by the petitioners to the District Education Officer on the same day as per Annexure B on November 16 1976 A letter was also addressed to the Managing Trustee Chandubhai P. Amin on November 12 1976 as per Annexure C with a request to make the payment. As no payment whatever was made and the award of the Tribunal had been flouted the present contempt application was filed by these petitioners. The Rule in this matter was issued on March 24 1977

( 4 ) THE respondents Nos. 1 and 2 the Manager who is also the Managing Trustee Chandubhai P. Amin has not appeared. The learned Government Pleader appears for the District Education Officer and he has stated that so far as he is concerned the payment of the salary of these petitioners to the tune of Rs. 12 320 towards the salary of Shri S. R. Patel Shri Haribhai Patel and Shri Valand which had been due from March 1976 and which amounted to Rs. 16 519 ps. had been paid from the first instalment of the Government grant. The learned Government Pleader also made a statement that from the subsequent instalment they would first pay the other employees when that instalment becomes due.

( 5 ) AT the outset before securing the presence of the alleged contemner the Manager and Managing Trustee respondent No. 2 Chandubhai P. Amin as a question has arisen even in other matters and has been pending before us in Miscellaneous Civil Application No. 340 of 1977 we would dispose of that question as to whether the

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