1. - In this writ petition the petitioner-Management Committee of Shri Gandhi Senior Secondary School, Gulabpura, District Bhilwara (hereinafter shall be referred to as the petitioner) has prayed for grant of following relief,

"i) This writ petition may kindly be allowed and by an appropriate writ, order or direction the order of the Rajasthan Non-Government Educational Institutions Tribunal dated 29.7.2003 may kindly be declared to be illegal and the same may be quashed and set aside and the Application filed by the respondent No. 1 before the learned Tribunal may kindly be dismissed with costs;

ii) By further appropriate writ, order or direction the respondent Nos. 3 and 4 may be directed to sanction and pay grant-in-aid against the amount of Gratuity to the petitioner institution atleast to the extent of 90% i.e., at the rate at which the grant-in-aid is paid for the salary of the employees with interest as ordered by the respondent No. 2;

iii) By further appropriate writ, order or direction rule 82 of the Rajasthan Non-Government Educational Institutions (Recognition, Grant-in-aid and Service Conditions Etc.) Rules, 1993 may kindly be declared to be ultra vires and be struck down;

iv) Any other appropriate writ, order or direction which this Hon'ble Court may deem just and proper in the facts and circumstances of the case may also kindly be issued in favour of the petitioner;

v) The cost of this writ petition may also kindly be awarded in favour of the petitioner."

2. For the appreciation of the contentions raised by the learned counsel for the parties in the matter I consider it necessary to briefly state the facts of the case.

3. The petitioner is a Non-Government Educational Institution receiving the 90% grant-in-aid from the Government of Rajasthan. It is not receiving any grant-in-aid from the Government for the gratuity and selection grades. The Petitioner stated that in case the Government pays grant-in-aid for the gratuity, it will not shirk its liability of payment thereof to the respondent No. 1 to the extent of its share of 10%.

4. Respondent No. 1 - Rang Lal Babel is the retired employee of the petitioner. He retired on attaining the age of superannuation on 31st of August, 2000. He has not been paid and given gratuity and the benefit of selection grades. He filed application No. 207/2001 before the Rajasthan Non- Government Educational Institution Tribunal, Jaipur (for short, 'the Tribunal'). Therein he prayed for grant of the benefit of selection grade on completion of 27 years of service and the amount of gratuity. He further prayed for grant of interest on the amount of gratuity.

5. The application filed by the respondent No. 1 has been allowed by the learned Tribunal under the impugned order dated 29th of July, 2003. The learned Tribunal directed the petitioner to pay to the respondent No. 1 the gratuity. The interest on the amount of gratuity has also been awarded at the rate of 9% per annum.

6. As regards to the claim made by the respondent No. 1 for grant of selection scale, the same has not been accepted but liberty has been granted to him to file fresh application.

7. Mr. Prahlad Singh, the learned counsel for the petitioner, contended that the Teacher does not fall under the category of skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled worker or manual, supervisory, technical or clerical category of employees and thus he is not entitled for the gratuity.

8. It has next been contended that the respondent No. 1 was not employed in the managerial or administrative capacity. Relying on the latest pronouncement of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Ahmedabad Private Primary Teachers Association v. Administrative Officer, 2004(1) SCT 667 (SC) : AIR 2004 SC 1426 the learned counsel for the petitioner contended that the fact that the educational institution is an establishment notified under Section (1)(3)(C) of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 (for short, 'the Act, 1972') is of little help to the respondent No 1.

9. Mr