By the Court.—The first petitioner, who is a practicing Advocate and the second petitioner who is a former Corporator of the Nagar Nigam, have filed these proceedings in the public interest complaining of the legality of a communication dated 2 February 2015 of the Additional District Magistrate (Civil Supplies), Allahabad, stating that in pursuance of the directions of the Chief Secretary, the work of verification of card holding families on the basis of criteria for inclusion and exclusion under the National Food Security Act, 2013 would be carried out. This letter of the ADM (Civil Supplies) was issued in pursuance of a direction of the Chief Secretary dated 23 January 2015 which has been annexed to the counter-affidavit. In pursuance thereof, teachers of primary schools and junior high schools have been called upon to participate in the work of verification of eligible families. This process was directed to be completed between 2 February 2015 and 27 February 2015. The submission of the petitioners is that entrusting this work to primary teachers and teachers of the junior high schools is contrary to law. Hence a mandamus had been sought directing the State to exclude such teachers who were engaged for verification of ration cards in the district of Allahabad.

2. On 24 February 2015, this Court directed the Standing Counsel to take instructions and to explain the reason for withdrawing the services of teachers for the purpose of carrying out the work of verification in connection with ration cards. Subsequently on 27 February 2015, the District Magistrate was directed to file a counter-affidavit, explaining the provisions of law under which the services of teachers of primary schools have been requisitioned for carrying out the above work. A counter-affidavit has been filed by the District Supply Officer, in which it has been stated that initially, it was anticipated that there were about seventeen lac card holders in the district, whereas subsequently it was found that there were nearly forty lac card holders. The State Government considered that for the purpose of verification, it is necessary to involve employees of the State drawn from various departments, who were accordingly called upon to complete the programme within a fixed period. Insofar as the services of teachers are concerned, it has been stated that they were involved in the process on a clear understanding that they would participate as and when they are free from their duties at the schools.

3. The right of children to free and compulsory education between the age of six to fourteen has been statutorily recognized in Section 3(1) of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 (the Act). This is in pursuance of the fundamental right conferred by Article 21-A of the Constitution of India. The Act provides in Chapter IV the responsibilities of schools and teachers. Section 27 specifically contains a prohibition on the deployment of teachers for non-educational purposes. Under Section 27, no teacher shall be deployed for any non-educational purposes other than the decennial population census, disaster relief duties or duties relating to elections to the local authority, or to the State Legislatures or Parliament, as the case may be. In view of this statutory prohibition, it is clearly unlawful and ultra vires on the part of the State to requisition the services of teachers for carrying out the verification of eligible card holding families. The right to free and compulsory education for children below the age of 14 is a constitutionally protected entitlement which is statutorily recognized in the Act. The State is not powerless, if it requires hands for completing the work of verification by recruiting contract employees or making suitable alternate arrangements, but such arrangements cannot involve the deployment of teachers. The duties of teachers is simply to teach students. Their status cannot be reduced to that of a ministeria