The court clarified the applicability of rules governing preferential appointments in filling vacancies in schools, providing guidance on the interpretation and reconciliation of conflicting provisions.

V. Balakrishna Eradi, J.

1. In the St. Thomas High School managed by the 3rd respondent a short term leave vacancy of High School Assistant (Hindi) arose during the year 1970-71 and the petitioner who was a qualified teacher unemployed at that time, was appointed by the manager to act in that vacancy. Pursuant to the said appointment she worked in the school during the period beginning from 3rd August 1970 and ending with 21st September 1970 on which date she was relieved from service. The permanent incumbent of the post of High School Assistant (Hindi) in the said school was one P. M. Sankaran Nair and he retired from the service with the close of the academic year 1970-71. The vacancy was filled up by the manager by appointing the petitioner in that post with effect from 1st June 1971. The District Educational Officer, Chavakkad, approved the said appoint­ment as per an order passed by him on 17th June 1971, overruling certain objections raised by the 4th respondent herein who had been working as Lower Grade Hindi Teacher the institution for a period of about eight years and was qualified for promotion to the higher grade. The 4th respondent carried the matter in appeal before the Regional Deputy Director of Public Instruction, Ernakulam (1st res­pondent) the main contention put forward in the appeal petition being that the vacancy in question ought to have been filled up by the manager only by promoting the quali­fied hand working in the school in the lower grade, namely, the 4th respondent, as per the provision laid down in rule 43 of Chapter XIV (A) of the Kerala Education Rules. The Regional Deputy Director issued notice of the appeal petition to the writ petitioner and also to the manager of the school and all the parties were also afforded an oral hearing. The writ petitioner urged before the 1st respon­dent that by virtue of the previous approved service put in by her in the institution during the period from 3rd August 1970 to 21st September 1970 she had acquired a preferential right to be re appointed in the school as High School Assistant (Hindi) by virtue of the provision contained in rule 51A Chapter XIV (A) of the Kerala Education Rules. The Regional Deputy Director rejected this plea and upheld the contention of the 4th respondent that the vacancy in question had to be filled up under rule 43 of Chapter XIV (A) by promoting the qualified hand working in the lower grade. The 1st respondent therefore set aside the order of the District Educational Officer granting approval to the petitioner’s appointment and held that the action of the manager in having appointed the writ petitioner as High School Assistant (Hindi) with effect from 1st June 1971 was not in order. The petitioner has produced a copy of the said proceedings of the Regional Deputy Director of Public Instruction, dated 29th February 1972 and it is marked as Ext. P-3. The prayer in this writ petition is that Ext. P-3 should be quashed on the ground that it is vitiated by an error of law apparent on the face of the record.

2. There is no dispute between the parties regarding the particulars of the service put in by the petitioner and the 4th respondent in the 3rd respondent’s school. The 4th respondent has been working there as a Lower Grade Hindi Teacher for the past about eight years on a regular basis. On 1st June 1971 when the retirement vacancy arose the 4th respondent was fully qualified for appointment to the post. She had not however acquired the requisite qualifi­cations at the time when a leave vacancy had arisen in the school in the post of High School Assistant (Hindi) in August 1970 into which vacancy the petitioner was then appointed as a fresh temporary recruit and pursuant to which she worked in the school from 3rd August 1970 to 21st September 1970. While the petitioner claims by virtue of the said temporary service put in by her that she has acquired a preferential right for re-appointment into the next vacancy of High S