The Deputy Director's order of disapproval of the appointment of the Principal was of no consequence, as he failed to decide within two weeks of receiving the relevant papers, resulting in automatic approval by operation of law.

K. N. Singh, J.

1. Radhey Ram Sharma, Petitioner no. 1, was selected for appointment to the post of Principal of Gandhi Adarsh Inter College, Labadi, district Etawah, and the Selection Committee sent its proposal to the Deputy Director of Education, Allahabad, for approval. The Deputy Director of Education by his order dated 12th December, 1973, refused to grant approval to the appointment of petitioner no. 1. Aggrieved Radhey Ram Sharma as well as the Managing Committee of the College through its Manager Sri Ishwar Chandra Tewari filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution challenging the validity of the order of the Deputy Director of Education.

2. The Deputy Director of Education refused to grant approval merely on the ground that since there was dispute amongst the members of the Committee of Management, the Selection Committee constituted for the purpose of selecting the principal was not in accordance with rules, as such no approval could be granted to the recommendations of the Selection Committee for appointment of Radhey Ram Sharma, petitioner no. 1, as Principal of the College. No other reason was stated by the Deputy Director of Education in refusing the approval. Section 16-E of the Intermediate Education Act makes provision for appointment of teachers, sub-Section (3) makes provision for constitution of a Selection Committee of three members for selection of Principal. The Committee is required to include as member a person not belonging to the district in which the institution is located, selected by the Committee of Management out of the regional panel referred to in sub-Section (4). The constitution of the Selection Committee and the procedure for the conduct of business at the meeting is regulated by Regulations. Regulations 1 to 18 of Chapter II of the Regulations framed under the Act contain provisions of constitution of Selection Committee and the procedure to be followed by the Committee for transacting its business. Regulation 13 read with regulation 9 lays down that the Committee including its Chairman shall be Management on an ad hoc basis for each selection for the post of Principal. The Manager shall get the list of members of the regional panel from the Regional Deputy Director, submit it to the Committee of Management for selecting a member, obtain the consent of the latter to sit on the Selection Committee and arrange for the selection. Regulations 4, 8, 9, 11 and 12 lay down procedure which is required to be followed by the Selection Committee. After the selection is held, the Chairman of the Selection Committee is required to send the names of the selected candidates and two others in the waiting list drawn up in order of merit to the Deputy Director of Education for approval. There is no dispute between the parties that the Selection Committee was constituted in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the Regulations framed thereunder. The Selection Committee selected the petitioner No. 1 and made recommendations in his favour for appointment as Principal and forwarded the papers to the Deputy Director of Education for approval. There is no dispute that petitioner No. 1 fulfilled the qualifications prescribed for appointment of a principal. The Deputy Director, however, refused to grant approval merely on the ground that there was dispute among the members of the Committee of Management, there fore no approval could be granted to the appointment of the petitioner who was selected by a Selection Committee constituted by rival members.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioners urged that the Chairman of the Selection Committee had made recommendations and submitted relevant papers to the Deputy Director of Education on 11th August, 1973. The Deputy Director required certain additional information from the management which was supplied on 1st October, 1973, but even thereafter the Deputy Director of Education did not pass any order and two weeks were allowed to expire. It is