Minority institutions have an absolute right to select their staff without interference from educational authorities, as protected under Article 30 of the Constitution.

ORDER :

The petitioner herein is a Private Minority Aided College. When they had made an appointment of one teaching staff, namely, Dr.W.Shyamala as Assistant Professor in the Department of History and sought for disbursement of the grant-in-aid towards her salary and allowances from the date of her appointment i.e., on 18.06.2018, the same came to be dismissed by the 2^nd respondent through the impugned proceedings in Na.Ka.No.27757/G4/2018-2 dated 04.12.2024.

2. This order is put under challenge in the present writ petition. The issue as to whether the Education Authorities can interfere with the selection process of Private Minority School Management has come up for consideration in various cases before the Honourable Supreme Court as well as this Court and in one such decision before the Honourable Division Bench, in the case of The Forum of Minority Institution (FMI) and Associations Vs. The State of Tamil Nadu rep. by the Joint Director of Collegiate Education and others reported in 2011 (1) CTC 162, such interference was held to be impermissible.

3. Following the decision of the Honourable Division Bench, this Court in the case of The Secretary, Fatima College, Mary Land, Madurai – 625 018, Madurai District Vs. The State of Tamil Nadu, rep. by its Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Fort St. George, Chennai – 600 009 and others in W.P.(MD).No.4636 & 4640 of 2021, on 30.06.2022, had an occasion to deal with the similar impugned order of rejection, whereby, the reasons assigned for such rejection were similar to that of the reasons assigned by the respondents in the present writ petition. While quashing the order of rejection in Fatima College's case, this Court had followed the decision in the FMI's case and held that the rejection of the proposal on the reasons assigned in the rejection order will amount to interference in the selection process of a Minority Institution, which is impermissible. The relevant portion of the orders reads as follows:-

“2. When the ' University Grants Commission Regulations, 2000' (hereinafter referred to as UCG Regulations, 2000') were put under challenge before an Hon'ble Division Bench of this Court in the case of The Forum of Minority Institutions (FMI) and Associations Vs. The State of Tamil Nadu, Rep. by the Joint Director of Collegiate Education reported in 2011 (1) CTC 162, it was declared therein that the UCG Regulations, 2000, for constitution of a Selection Committee, were not applicable to Minority Institutions. While holding so, the Hon'ble Division Bench had also dealt with all the Clauses in the UCG Regulations, 2000, including Clause 5.1.5, which provides for the constitution of a Selection Committee in a Minority Educational Institution.

3. The UCG Regulations, 2010, has replicated the aforesaid Clause with regard to the constitution of a Selection Committee in Clause 5.1.4, which is verbatim the same as that of the UCG Regulations, 2000.

4. When the provision for a Selection Committee under the 2000 Regulations was made inapplicable to Minority Institutions in FMI's case (supra), an identical provision in the 2010 Regulations cannot be given a new interpretation, but rather should be construed to have excluded Minority Institutions from forming Selection Committee. In this background, the Educational Authorities will not have any right to question the selection process or the qualification of the candidates, who were selected therein.

5. In the instant cases, two Assistant Professors viz., Dr.Sr.Bindhu Antony and A.Sarpiya Rani were appointed as Assistant Professors in Commerce and French on 16.08.2016 and 13.02.2017 respectively. On the proposal dated 12.06.2018, submitted by the College Management to the third respondent herein, rejection orders, both dated 05.01.2021, came to be passed, predominantly rejecting the proposal on the grounds that no Selection Committee was constituted; that no subject experts had participated in the selection process; and that the notificatio