BEFORE THE MADURAI BENCH OF MADRAS HIGH COURT

DATED :02.01.2026

CORAM:

THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE R.VIJAYAKUMAR

W.P(MD)No.13158 of 2019

S.Jansi ... Petitioner

.Vs.

1.The Secretary to Government,

Department of School Education,

St.George Fort,

Chennai.

2.The Director of School Education,

School Education Department,

DPI Compound,Chennai.

3.The Chief Educational Officer,

Tirunelveli District,

Tirunelveli.

4.The District Educational Officer,

Cheranmahadevi Educational District,

Tirunelveli.

5.The Correspondent,

Tiruneveli West Higher Secondary School,

Tirunelveli District. ... Respondents

PRAYER: Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, praying this Court to issue a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus calling for the records pursuant to the impugned rejection order passed by the fourth respondent in Na.Ka.No. 619/Aa2/2019, dated 18.3.2019 quash the same and consequently direct the fourth respondent to approve the Petitioner’s appointment as Vocational Instructor at 5^th respondent School and give all other service and monetary benefits from 1.6.2018.

For Petitioner : Mr.S.Chellapandian For Respondents : Mr.P.T.Thiraviam 1 to 4 Government Advocate For Respondent-5 : Mr.H.Arumugam

O R D E R

The present Writ Petition has been filed seeking to quash the order passed by the fourth respondent on 18.3.2019, wherein, the proposal submitted by the fifth respondent school to approve the appointment of the Writ Petitioner as Vocational Instructor has been rejected.

2.A perusal of the impugned order indicates that the proposal sent by the management for tbe post of Vocational Instructor has been rejected primarily on the ground that Mr.Nellaiyappan was granted approval to the post of Vocational Instructor and on his retirement, the post would get lapsed. It is further pointed out in the impugned order that the Accountancy and Auditing) stream has been abolished and therefore the appointment of the Writ Petitioner cannot be approved.

3.According to the learned counsel for the Writ Petitioner, he has been appointed in the retirement vacancy of one Nellaiyappan. The approval order of one Nellaiyappan dated 3.4.1991 does not indicate that the post would get lapsed on his retirement. The learned counsel further points out that the Tamil Nadu Private Schools (Regulation) Act, 2018 describes clearly the educational qualification for the post of Vocational Instructor(Accountancy and Auditing) as found in S.No.75 in Annexure VI(A) of Tamil Nadu Private Schools (Regulation)Act, 2023.

4.Per contra, learned Government Advocate appearing for the respondents 1 to 4 submits that the post of Vocational Instructor would got lapsed on retirement of Nellaiyappan and the same cannot be filled up by the Management. He would further submit that the vocational course has been abolished. and hence, a new candidate cannot be appointed. Hence he prayed for sustaining the order impugned in this Writ Petition.

5.I have heard the submissions made on either side and perused the materials placed on record.

6.The Division Bench of this Court in the judgment rendered in W.A.No.506 of 2020, dated 24.09.2025, had an occasion to consider similar submission raised by the respondent Officials.

Para 14 to 18 of the said judgment are extracted as follows: ‘’14.The Government Advocate’s submission justifying the non approval of Vocational Instructor is solely based upon G.O.Ms.No.9, School Education (VE)Department, dated 6.1.2009.According to the State, under the said Government Order, the vocational streams of education have been abolished in the Higher Secondary Course. Therefore, for appointment of any Vocational Instructor, approval cannot be granted after 6.1.2009.

15.A perusal of the said Government Order reveals that the Government has only prohibited starting of new Vocational Courses from the academic yer 2007-2008 and Vocational Instructors should not be appointed either by School Management or Parents Teachers Association. If any institution wants to start a new Vocational Course, p