JUDGMENT :

P. KRISHNA KUMAR, J.

1. Two key legal issues arise for consideration in this writ appeal. Firstly, when calculating the service period of a school teacher for appointment as Headmaster, can the period spent on Leave Without Allowance (LWA) for employment abroad be excluded, in view of Rule 4 of Appendix XII-A of the Kerala Service Rules (KSR)? Secondly, given that the proviso to Rule 18 of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2011 which exempts candidates for the Headmaster post from acquiring test qualifications upon reaching 50 years - was introduced only on January 5, 2021, can a teacher claim exemption from test qualifications for a Headmaster vacancy that arose on June 1, 2020?

2. The appellant is the sixth respondent in the writ petition, and the first respondent herein is the writ petitioner. The first respondent was appointed as a teacher at the school on July 16, 1990, while the appellant joined on June 7, 1993. The first respondent took Leave Without Allowance (LWA) for foreign employment for approximately eight years, split into two spells between January 1, 1997, and November 1, 2005. She turned 50 on May 2, 2016. The first respondent fi