The court upheld the termination of a contractual engagement due to unauthorized absence, affirming that judicial review does not extend to substituting administrative decisions unless shown to be unreasonable or illegal.

JUDGMENT & ORDER :

N. Unni Krishnan Nair, J.

Heard Mr. D. S. Deka, learned counsel, appearing on behalf of the appellant. Also heard Mr. Nayanjyoti Khataniar, learned standing counsel, Secondary Education Department, appearing on behalf of all the respondents.

2. As agreed to by the learned counsels appearing for the parties, the present intra-Court appeal was taken-up for consideration and is being disposed of by this order.

3. The present intra-Court appeal has been instituted by the appellant, herein, assailing the judgment & order, dated 20.02.2025, passed by the learned Single Judge in WP(c)247/2023, dismissing the writ petition and thereby, rejecting the claim of the appellant for an interference with a communication, dated 25.06.2020, by which, her contractual engagement was terminated on account of having remained unauthorizedly absent from her duty.

4. The issue arising for adjudication in the present proceeding, is noticed as under:

The appellant, herein, was engaged by the School Management and Development Committee of Haibargaon High School, Nagaon, on 10.06.2010, as an Assistant Teacher, on contractual basis. The appellant entered into an agreement with the School Management and Development Committee of the said school for the purpose and the said contractual engagement was being extended from time to time. The contractual engagement of the appellant, herein, was to continue till the month of July, 2020.

It is to be noted that the appellant, herein, had applied for Child Care Leave(CCL) w.e.f. 01.08.2019 to 31.03.2020. The application of the appellant, in this connection, while being processed and an approval thereto, still to be granted; the appellant, herein, proceeded on leave and continued to remain away from her duty. The leave, as sought for by the appellant, herein, not having been granted and she having remained unauthorizedly absent from her duty; the School Management and Development Committee of Haibargaon High School, Nagaon, in terms of the provisions existing in the contractual engagement, on consideration, arrived at a decision to terminate the contractual engagement of the appellant. Accordingly, the Headmaster of Haibargaon High School, Nagaon, vide a communication, dated 25.06.2020, terminated the service of the appellant, herein.

The appellant, herein, did not assail the communication, dated25.06.2020, immediately, but had approached the writ Court by way of instituting a writ petition being WP(c)247/2023, after around 2½ years from the date, her contractual engagement was terminated.

The learned Single Judge, on considering the issue arising in the matter and after hearing the learned counsels appearing for the parties, was pleased vide judgment & order, dated 20.02.2025, to dismiss the said writ petition being WP(c)247/2023, rejecting the claim of the appellant, herein, for interference with the termination of her contractual engagement.

The operative portion of the judgment & order, dated 20.02.2025, passed by the learned Single Judge in WP(c)247/2023, being relevant, is extracted hereinbelow:

“9. The facts of the case, as submitted by the learned counsels for the parties and the pleadings, show that though the petitioner had applied for Child Care Leave for 4 months in the year 2018, the same had not been granted by the respondents. The petitioner thereafter applied for Child Care Leave again from 01.08.2019 to 31.03.2020, i.e. for a period of 8 months. However, the same was also not granted by the respondents. Despite leave not being granted, the petitioner took unauthorized leave and remained absent from the school, till issuance of the dismissal order dated 25.06.2020, which was issued on the 11th month of the absence of the petitioner.

10. Clause 5 & 9 of the contractual agreement executed between the parties provides as follows:-

“5. The services of the Party shall stand automatically terminated at the expiry of the contact period, without any necessity of the School giving any notice or notice pay