Aided school teachers cannot contest elections as it contradicts their duties under the Right to Education Act, reinforcing the importance of quality education.

JUDGMENT :

S. Manikumar, J.

Instant public interest writ petitions are filed generally with prayers for issuance of a writ, order, or direction, declaring that the teaching staff of aided schools are not entitled to contest in the election to the local bodies, including State Legislative Assembly and Parliament. As they are working in aided schools, petitioners, inter alia, have sought for issuance of a writ of mandamus declaring that the exemption, if any, granted to the aided school teachers, permitting them to contest in various elections conducted by the Election Commissions, as nonest in the eye of law, and to declare the same as void.

2. In W.P.(C) No.17534/2010, the petitioner therein has sought for a direction to the State and the Director of Public Instructions, to make suitable amendments in the Kerala Educational Rules, 1956, to give effect to the directions stipulated in the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009.

3. In W.P.(C) No.27670/2015, the petitioner therein has sought for a direction declaring that aided school teachers are not entitled to be engaged in political activities and to contest for election to Local Self Government bodies under the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, as well as the Kerala Municipalities Act, 1994. The petitioner has also sought for a direction to the State officials, to issue necessary orders prohibiting aided school teachers from engaging in political activities and contesting the election to Local Self Government bodies under the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994, as well as the Kerala Municipalities Act, 1994.

4. However, distinct from the reliefs sought for in other writ petitions, in W.P.(C) No.29964/2010, the petitioner therein has sought for a declaration that any provision permitting contest in elections to the Parliament, State Assembly or Local Body by the teachers of private educational institutions, both under aided and unaided sector, shall be unconstitutional and violative of Articles 21, 21A, 41 and 46 of the Constitution of India.

5. That apart, petitioner therein has also sought for a declaration that Section 2(1)(iv) of the Legislative Assembly (Removal of Disqualifications) Act, 1951 permitting the office holders in private educational institutions to be members of the local bodies or Central or State Legislative bodies, is in violation of Articles 41 and 46, and ultravires to Articles 21 and 21A of the Constitution of India and quash the same.

6. For appropriate disposal of the writ petitions, we deem it fit that the parties can be referred as they are arrayed in W.P.(C) No.29964/2010, and to rely on the basic contentions raised, as well as the counter affidavit filed thereto by the State Government.

7. The petitioner in W.P.(C) No.29964/2010, is a retired Director of Doordarshan, Mangalore Station, and was serving as the Director of Audiovisual communication in Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), Kochi, at the time of filing the writ petition. According to him, the experience gained by him for having served under the mass communication field over last three decades, having authored stage plays and children books, conveying the message for social working, has constrained him to file the writ petition, to prevent the massive participation of the teachers, working in private educational institutions, including Government aided colleges and school, in active politics and contest in elections to the Parliament, State Assembly, and local bodies, by diluting the quality of service to the cause of education and breeding fissiparous and divisive tendencies among the students and society, on account of petty political considerations.

8. Petitioner therein has further stated that while service rules applicable to the Government teachers interdict the involvement in active politics and contest in elections, the teachers in private sector, discharging the very same functions, are freely allowed to actively participate in politics, including makin