The court ruled that the reduction of teacher posts violated established teacher-pupil ratios and mandated the appointment of sufficient teachers as per educational norms.

ORDER :

(C. SARAVANAN, J.)

The Petitioner, a Linguistic minority School which is getting a Government aid is before this Court. It is aggrieved by the Impugned Staff Fixation Order dated 22.12.2012, letter dated 25.02.2013 and the Appellate Order dated 12.04.2013 of the 2^nd Respondent, Chief Educational Officer.

2. By the Impugned Staff Fixation Order dated 22.12.2012, the number of posts of (Middle School) teachers in the Petitioner School have been reduced to four from six for the Academic year 2012-2013.

3. Relevant portion of the aforesaid Impugned Staff Fixation Order dated 22.12.2012 is extracted hereunder;

4. The reason for reducing the number of posts of Teachers from six to four for classes 6^th to 8^th at the Petitioner School for the Academic Year 2013-2014 as stated in the Impugned Staff Fixation Order dated 22.12.2012. It reads as follows;

5. There are no reasons stated in Column.3 of Annexure I in the aforesaid impugned staff fixation order dated 22.12.2012 with regard to reducing the number of posts of Teachers from six to four for classes 6^th to 8^th at the Petitioner School.

6. Aggrieved by the aforesaid staff fixation order, the Petitioner School preferred an appeal which was also rejected by the 2^nd Respondent vide order dated 25.02.2013 impugned in the present writ petition.

7. Operative Portion of the order dated 25.02.2013 rejecting the appeal preferred by the Petitioner School against the staff fixation order is as under:

8. The admitted position of Teacher-Pupil ratio for Standards 6^th to 8^th at the Petitioner School at that point of time when the cause of action arose is captured in Para 6 of the Counter Affidavit, which reads as follows:

“6.It is submitted that in the above scenarios, the assessment of Grant for teaching posts in the petitioners school during 2012-2013 was found as follows:

It is submitted that, however, considering the two medium of classes i.e., English and Telugu, 4 teacher posts were left remained and the additional two posts which were prevailing all along only have been treated as surplus and surrendered for redeployment to the needy schools.”

9. The learned counsel for the Petitioner would submit that the Respondents have relied upon G.O.Ms.No.525, School Education Department, dated 29.12.1997, to justify the reduction of the number of posts of teachers from six to four at the Petitioner School for the Academic year 2012-2013.

10. It is also evident from a reading of Paragraph No.5 of the Counter Affidavit filed in support of the defense by the learned counsel for the Respondents. Para NO.5 of the Counter Affidavit reads as under;

5. As per the above G.O the teacher-pupil ratio for the standards VI to VIII has to be followed as follows:

(a) The teacher-pupil ratio of 1:40 will be followed minimum of 2 Secondary Grade Teachers upto a strength of 80 will be sanctioned.

(b) For every additional strength of 40, one post of Secondary Teacher will be sanctioned i.e., the third post at 100, the fourth at 140, the fifth post at 180 and so on.

(c) Regarding the bifurcation of a standard, additional sections will be created when the strength exceeds 60 and so on in slabs of 40.

(d) It is further humbly submitted that the above staff strength shall be fixed by the District Educational Officer concerned for High and Higher Secondary Schools. Those who may be rendered surplus strength due to application of these norms, shall as far as possible be redeployed to the needy schools. The redeployment of staff in schools shall be done by Director of School Education and Director of Elementary Education as the case may be.

11. Further, in Paragraph No.10 of the additional counter affidavit, the Respondents have stated as follows:

“10. Further it is submitted that as per EMIS strength as on 01.08.2024 there are 238 students are available in the class 6,7,8 both Telugu and English medium and the staff fixation ord