The termination of employment must adhere to the prescribed notice period as per the employment contract and relevant rules and regulations.

T.N.K. Singh, J.

1. This Writ Appeal directed against the judgment and order of the learned Single Judge dated 30.11.2004 passed in W.P. (C) No. 788 of 2004 involves a very short question of fact, which has been narrated in a short compass herein. The Sainik School, Imphal, Manipur is run through a Board of Governors of Sainik School Society, a Society registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, under the Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India. The Society has its own Rules and Regulations governing the organization and administration, terms and conditions of service, conduct rules, etc. of its employees. As per the Rules and Regulations of the Society, the Defence Minister, Govt. of India functions as the Chairman of the Board of Governors, the Chief Minister or the State Education Minister functions as the Member of the Board of the Governors. The Appellant/writ Petitioner was appointed as Nursing Assistant under an order of the Principal, Sainik School, Imphal, Manipur. The terms and conditions of the appointment order dated 30.10.2002 which would be pertinent for deciding the present writ appeal are quoted hereunder:

4. You will be on probation for a period of one year extendable to 2 years as per Sainik Schools Society's Rules and Regulations. On successful completion of probation period you may be considered for confirmation in the above post. During the period of probation your services may be terminated by the appointing authority without assigning any reason with one month notice. Your services may also be terminated without notice and without assigning any reason on disciplinary grounds. The previous service rendered by you in organization other than Sainik Schools will be considered for counting of pensionary benefits at the time of retirement provided:

(i) the erstwhile service is a pensionable service and

(ii) the erstwhile organization undertakes in writing that it will bear the financial liability towards pension contribution for the relevant period.

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8. All other terms and conditions of your service as laid down in the Sainik Schools Society's Rules and Regulations, as amended from time to time, shall be binding on you. You are required to acquaint yourself with the governing Rules and Conduct Rules as applicable to Sainik Schools employees and given in Sainik Schools Society's Rules and Regulations and shall strictly abide by the same.

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12. If the above terms and conditions are acceptable to you, are required to sign the acceptance certificate appended to this letter and submit the same to this office by 05 Nov. 2002.

Rule 7.08 of Chapter-VII (Terms and Conditions of Service) of the Sainik School Society's Rules and Regulations which govern the terms and conditions of the Appellant/Writ Petitioner, reads as follows:

7.08. During the period of probation, the Principal may terminate the services of any member of staff, appointed by him under his own powers, after giving him one month's notice in writing and without assigning any reason. Reciprocally, any member of staff on probation may leave after giving one month's notice of resignation or surrendering one month's salary. Notes:

1) The period of vacation can be included by the members of vocational staff within the notice period provided notice of resignation is given at least 7 days prior to the commencement of vacation period.

2) Members of staff (both vocational and non vocational) are not permitted to set off wholly earned leave to their credit against the notice period receipt that provided in Rule 7.07 above and leave should be sanctioned by the leave sanctioning authority in its own discretion.

2. After completion of one year of his service, the probation period of the Appellant/writ Petitioner was again extended for another period of one year by an order of the Principal, Sainik School, Imphal, Manipur dated 24.10.2003 which reads as follows:

EXTENSION OF PROBATIONARY PERIOD

Reference this School appointment order No. SSI/110/Admn dated 30 O