The panel forwarded by the Commission for the appointment of Principal does not exhaust with the appointment of a candidate, and the education authorities can utilize the panel within its life of one year, even in the event of the death of the appointed candidate.

G. P. Mathur, J.

1. The dispute relating to appointment on the post of Principal of Kishori Raman Girls College, Mathura gave rise to seven writ petitions and five of them were decided by a common order by the learned Single Judge, Special Appeals No. 780/93, 781/93 and 782/93 filed by the Committee of Management, Special Appeal no. 816 of 93 and Writ Petitions No. 25142/89 and 41368/92 filed by ad-hoc/officiating Principal Dr. Radha Agarwal are being disposed of by a common order at the admission stage, after hearing learned counsel for the parties,

2. It is not necessary to give the facts in detail as they have been mentioned in the judgment of learned- Single Judge Suffice it to say that on the retirement of permanent Principal Smt. Gayatri Rawat in the year 1981, the vacancy was notified and U. P. Secondary Education Service Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Commission) after following the prescribed procedure forwarded a panel consisting of (I) Smt. Kusum Srivastava (2) Smt. N. A. Zubairi and (3) Smt. Radha Tripathi, in that order to the Education Authorities on January 19, 1984. The name of Smt. Kusum Srivatava, who tood at SI. No. 1 was intimated to the management of the college under section 11 (3) of the U. P. Secondacy Education Services Commission and Selection Boards Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) and an appointment letter was issued in her favour on February 24, 1984. Smt. Kusum Srivastava joined as Principal on February 25 but died on March 2, 1984. On the application of Smt. N. A. Zubairi, whose name appeared at SI. No. 2 of the panel, the Regional Inspectress of Girls Colleges Agra, passed an order on March 12, 1984 directing the management to issue an appointment letter in her favour. Subsequently, a similar direction was issued by the Regional Dy. Director of Education, Agra, on March, 16, 1985. The Committee of Management then filed writ petition No. 632 of 1985 for quashing the aforesaid orders and it is this petition which has been treated to be the leading petition by learned Single Judge as the fate of other petitioners depends upon the decision in this petition.

Shri Janardan Sahai, learned counsel for the Committee of Management (Management) after referring to the provisions of section ...9, 10 and 11 of the Act as well as Rule 2 (hh) of the U. P. Secondary Education Services Commission Rules, 1983 (hereinafter referred to as the Rules) has submitted that once a candidate recommemded by the Commission joins the post, the panel exhausts and if a vacancy occurs subsequently as a result of death of the incumbent, the same has to be notified again and the Commission has to make a fresh selection. According to the learned counsel, education authorities cannot refer back to the earlier panel as it ceases to be operative and therefore, after the death of Smt. Kusum Srivastava the Services Commission had to advertise the vacancy again and hold fresh selection. Learned counsel has elaborated his argument by placing reliance on Union of India v. Sankal Chand AIR 1977 SC 2328 (para-106) where it has been observed that the appointment means an initial entry into service for the first time and submitted that in view of sub-section (5) of Section-11 of the Act, the panel forwarded by the Commission can be utilised again only if the candidate whose name had been intimated by the education authorities has failed to join the post or such a candidate is otherwise not available for appointment. It has thus been submitted that as Smt. Kusum Srivastava had joined as principal on February 25, 1984 it is not a case where a candidate has failed to join the post or is otherwise not available for appointment and thus the necessary conditions for utilising the earlier panel did not exist. Therefore the orders dated March, 12, 1984 of R. I. G. S. and March 16, 1985 of Regional Dy. Director of Education directing the management to issue appointment letter in favour of Smt. N. A. Zubairi, whose name was at