IMPORTANT POINT
The main legal point established in the judgment is the requirement for proper notification of vacancies and the validity of the relinquishment letter in the appointment process.

The facts of these two writ petitions are interconnected and intertwined. In WP(C) No.1859/2018, an unsuccessful teacher, whose appointment as Higher Secondary School Teacher (“HSST”, for short) has been declined by the Educational Authorities and confirmed by the Government, is before this Court. The reasons perhaps may be little strange. On the other hand, WP(C) No.2499/2018 has been filed by the rival claimant, who claims that she being the senior most teacher, is entitled to be appointed as HSST by transfer in the place of Sri.Mohammed Basheer, the petitioner in WP(C) No.1859/2018. For the sake of brevity, the facts in WP(C) No.1859/2018 will be stated.

2. Sri.Mohammed Basheer K. and Smt.Jisha John are both working as high school teachers in IKT Higher Secondary School, Cherukulmba, Vattaloor, Malappuram District. On 20.6.2015, the Manager, who is the 1st respondent, invited applications for filling up of the post of HSST, consequent to the retirement of Smt.Alice Joseph. The said notice was exhibited in the notice board. Later, Sri.Mohammed Basheer claims that the notice dated 1.7.2015 proposing to conduct an interview on 5.7.2015 was issued to him as well as Smt.Jisha John as per Ext.P3. On 5.7.2015 at 10.00 a.m., a selection committee interviewed and minutes was recorded regarding the selection process. Smt.Jisha John did not participate in the selection process. However, later Smt.Jisha John seems to have filed a complaint on 6.1.2016 to the Educational Authorities, which started the long drawn litigation between the parties. Based on the claim raised by Smt.Jisha John, the Educational Authorities declined to grand approval to the petitioner. This was by Ext.P9 order dated 25.5.2017. Aggrieved by the same, a revision was filed before the 3rd respondent, which was rejected by Ext.P13 order dated 5.1.2018, which is impugned in the writ petition.

3. Before entering into the discussion relating to the sustainability of the orders impugned, this Court will refer to the bare necessary facts in WP(C) No.2499/2018 also.

4. In the writ petition filed by Smt.Jisha John, the relief sought is for a direction to respondents 3 and 4, who are the District Educational Officer and the Manager, to appoint the petitioner to the post of HSST with effect from 31.5.2015. An additional relief in the form of a writ of mandamus to direct respondents 2 to 5 to consider and pass orders on Exts.P5 to P8 representations, respectively, is also sought for.

5. When the above writ petition came up for consideration before another Bench of this Court on 23.2.2023, there was a direction to the learned Government Pleader to produce the entire files relating to the appointment of Sri.Muhammed Basheer, which has been placed before this Court for perusal.

6. Before going to the rival contentions, it is suffice to note that the order declining approval of appointment of Sri.Muhammed Basheer is basically confined to three points.

1.The Manager did not notify the vacancy of HSST to all eligible candidates;

2.The relinquishment stated to have been obtained by the Manager from Smt.Jisha John is vitiated, since the same has been obtained on a blank paper; and

3.Sri.Mohamed Basheer is junior to Smt.Jisha John and therefore not entitled to be appointed as HSST.

7. It is also noted in Ext.P13 order produced in WP(C) No.1859/2018 that as per circular No.ET3/87201/96 dated 6.1.1997 of the Director of Public Instructions, certain procedures have been prescribed for obtaining relinquishment and, therefore, the Manager has not followed the said procedure and hence, the appointment cannot be approved. The 3rd respondent also found that the Manager has neither intimated the vacancy nor called upon qualified hands for appointment to the post of HSST (English) in the School. The 3rd respondent proceeded to hold that any documents produced to prove that intimation has been given to rightful claimants has been created for the limited purpose of defeating the claims of qualified teach