The judgment established the importance of satisfying the conditions for invoking disciplinary powers under Rule 75A, and the relevance of circumstances such as reinstatement in considering the grounds for dropping disciplinary proceedings.

K.T. Sankaran, J.

The petitioner is working as the Headmistress of Leo XIIIth Higher Secondary School, Pulluvila. Some untoward incidents happened in the school in the year 2007. The Director of Higher Secondary Education made an enquiry and submitted report to the Government. Exercising the power under Section 12A(2) of the Kerala Education Act, the Deputy Director of Education placed the petitioner under suspension on 9.2.2009, pursuant to the direction issued by the Government. Thereafter, the Director of Public Instruction passed Exhibit P1 order dated 30.5.2009 directing the Manager to reinstate the petitioner in service. The relevant portion of Exhibit P1 order is extracted below :

"During the hearing it was evident that Smt. Usha Louis is still retaining certain office records, office seal etc. with her. This unauthorised possession of records cannot be tolerated. Manager, HS Pulluvila is hereby directed to reinstate Smt. Usha Louis in service only after returning the above documents to the present Higher secondary authority, pending finalisation of disciplinary action. Steps may be taken to finalise disciplinary action based on Deputy Director of Education's Enquiry Report without delay."

Accordingly, the petitioner was reinstated in service.

2. The Manager issued Exhibit P2 charge memo dated 23rd April 2009 to the petitioner. The following charges were framed against the petitioner :

"(1) That you Smt. Usha Louis while working as H.M. of the school has used the seal of the Principal of the School in spite of the fact that Shri. Antony Morais has assumed Principal of the school.

(2) That you while working as H.M. of the school has not handed over the Official Seal and the Bill book to the Principal causing delay in payment of salary to the staff.

(3) That you while working as H.M. of the school on 2.1.07 has not taken any step for the closure of the Main Gate after the beginning of the classes.

(4) That you failed to report to the Police against the untoward event that happened on 2.1.2007.

(5) That you failed to discharge her duties and thus committed negligence."

3. The petitioner submitted Exhibit P3 reply to the memo of charges. The Manager passed Exhibit P5 order dated 17.9.2009 holding that there is no valid ground to impose any penalty on the petitioner and accordingly, she was exonerated. It was also held that the period of suspension shall be treated as period spent on duty. As regards the charges, the Manager held in Exhibit P5 as follows :

"As for the charges on seal etc. it is observed that the Higher Secondary section was started in the school during 1991 and thenceforth it has been denominated as a Higher secondary school with a separate identity. The seals were also made therefrom and they could not be changed every now and then. Smt. Usha Louis was functioning as Principal of the school since 31.3.2003. She was using the seals as a part of her official duties. When a new Principal assumed charge in the Higher Secondary Section he also made another seal and was making use of it. It appears that this resulted in some confusion which would have been avoided by mutual consensus. However that did not happen. The Principal vied for the seal used by Smt. Usha Louis for unknown reasons. The undersigned took possession of the seal from the HM and handed it over to the Principal and he appears to be satisfied. The whole issue ends there. However, I cannot split my school into two and name them separately as a Higher Secondary and high School as both are moulded as one entity right from 1991.

Regarding the untoward incident occurred during 2007 while Rev.Fr. Sanu Oseph was the Manager of the school the Headmistress had no role. It so happened primarily the misdemeanour due to misdemeanour of a lady H.S.S. teacher and not otherwise.

The other charges are too silly which do not deserve any action at all."

4. As per Exhibit P6 order dated 28.9.2010, the Government directed the Deputy Director of Education to take appropr