ORDER :

P.B.Suresh Kumar, J.

As the writ appeals from which these review petitions arise were disposed of by a common judgment, the review petitions are also disposed of by this common order. The State and its officials who were the appellants in the appeals are the petitioners in this review petitions.

2. The matters pertain to the approval of the appointment of Principal of St.Dominics College, a private aided Arts and Science College coming under the Direct Payment Scheme of the State Government. As done while disposing of the writ appeals, parties and documents are referred to in this order also, as they appear in W.P.(C) No.5638 of 2022.

3. The petitioner was the Manager of the College. The College is affiliated to the Mahatma Gandhi University. When the post of Principal of the College fell vacant, the management appointed one Dr.Seemon Thomas as the Principal of the College. The said appointment was not approved by the University on the ground that the College does not have five hours of teaching workload per week for the subject viz, Statistics to be allocated to the Principal. Ext.P8 is the order issued by the University in this regard. Ext.P8 order was under challenge in W.P.(C) No.5638 of 2022. The case set out by the petitioner in the writ petition was that minimum teaching workload is not insisted for the Principal either in the Ordinance issued by the Syndicate of the University under Section 37 of the Mahatma Gandhi University Act or in the Regulations issued by the University Grants Commission (the UGC).

4. A counter affidavit was filed on behalf of the State contending that the State is empowered to fix the teaching workload of teachers in private colleges and that a minimum workload of five hours per week is mandatory for Principals also in terms of the orders issued by the Government from time to time.

5. As a matter of fact, it is in terms of Ext.P1 order that the Government has prescribed that Principals of Arts and Science Colleges should handle five hours of teaching workload per week. However, when Ext.P1 order was later modified as per Ext.P2 order in order to make the former in tune with the prescriptions in the Regulations issued by the University Grants Commission as regards workload, no prescription was made as regards the workload to be handled by Principals of Arts and Science Colleges. Later, the Government modified Ext.P2 order with retrospective effect from the date of Ext.P1 order, prescribing that the Principals of Arts and Science Colleges shall also handle five hours of teaching workload. Ext.R3(a) is the order issued by the Government in this regard. W.P.(C) No.10888 of 2022 was instituted by the petitioner challenging Ext.R3(a) order.

6. The learned Single Judge took the view that insofar as Statute 81 of Chapter 45 of the Statutes which enumerates the duties and responsibilities of Principals of Arts and Science Colleges does not provide that there shall be teaching workload for Principals, and insofar as the Mahatma Gandhi University Ordinance regarding Workload and Staff Pattern of Teaching Staff of Private Aided Arts and Science Colleges, 2018 (the Ordinance) issued under Section 37 of the Mahatma Gandhi University Act dealing with the workload of teachers prescribes only a maximum workload of five hours per week for Principals, it cannot be said that there shall be a minimum teaching workload for the Principal. The learned Single Judge also took the view that in the light of the scheme of the Act as also the Statutes and Ordinances issued thereunder, the Government cannot prescribe workload for teachers and Principals of private colleges. It was also held by the learned Single Judge that at any rate, Ext.R3(a) does not apply to the appointment of the Principal of the College effected prior to the said order. In the circumstances, the writ petitions were allowed and Ext.P8 order of the University and Ext.R3(a) order of the Government were set aside, and the proposal for approval of the appo