1. This is a petition by the Bishop of Calicut and the Provincial of the Jesuit Province of Kerala. It invokes Art.226 of the Constitution and challenges the validity of Ext. P7, an order of the Director of Public Instruction, Trivandrum, dated the 1st May 1963.

2. The order allowed an appeal by the first respondent, a teacher in the St. Joseph's Boys High School, Calicut, under R.44 in Part A. of Chapter XIV of the Kerala Education Rules, 1959. That Part deals with the conditions of service of aided school teachers; and R.44 provides that the appointment of headmasters by the managers of aided schools "shall ordinarily be according to seniority", and that a teacher aggrieved by an appointment has a right of appeal to the Education Department of the State.

3. In Writ Appeal No. 43 of 1962(1963 K. L T 368) this Court hold-affirming the decision in O. P. No. 329 of 1962 that in the absence of any indication in the Rules as to which officer of the Education Department should hear and dispose of the appeals under R.44, the officer competent to deal with such appeals should be considered to be the Head of the Department, that is, the Director of Public Instruction, Trivandrum.