Point of Law: meaning of the said expression in Section 2 (d-2) of the 1972 Act inserted by the U.P. Act No.2 of 2018, would not be relevant for the purpose of 1978' Act.

JUDGMENT :

1. Heard Sri Ashok Khare learned Senior Counsel assisted by Sri Sujeet Kumar and Sri Arun Kumar Rana, Sri Samir Sharma learned Senior Counsel, Sri Girjesh Tiwari, Sri Yogesh Kumar Saxena, Ms. Chhaya Gupta, Sri K. Shahi, Sri Anand Tripathi for the petitioners and all other counsels appearing in the connected writ petitions. Learned Advocate General assisted by Ms. Archana Singh, learned Additional Chief Standing Counsel for the State-respondents.

2. The main relief sought in the petitions in this batch is:-

"Issue a writ, order or direction declaring the U.P. Basic Education (Amendment) Act' 2017 (U.P. Act No.2 of 2018) and the U.P. Junior High School (Payment of Salaries of Teachers and other Employees) (Amendment) Act 2017 (U.P. Act No.3 of 2018) as ultra vires to the Constitution".

I. Introduction:-

3. In the State of U.P., the education upto class XII is governed by two Acts mainly, (i) The U.P. Intermediate Education Act' 1921; (ii) The U.P. Basic Education Act' 1972. The institutions which are engaged in imparting elementary education, secondary and higher secondary education in the State can be categorized as under:-

(a) A school established, owned or control-led by the appropriate government or a local authority;

(b) An aided school receiving aid or grants to meet whole or parts of its expenses from the appropriate government or the local authority;

(c) An unaided school not receiving any kind of aid or grants to meet its expenses from the appropriate government or the local authority;

(d) The school pertaining to specified category such as Kendriya Vidyalaya, Navodaya Vidyalaya, Sainik School etc.

4. The Non-Governmental institutions which are receiving the grant-in-aid from the State government, in the matter of payment of salaries to its teachers and other employees, are governed by:-

(1) The Uttar Pradesh High School and Intermediate Colleges (Payment of Salaries of Teachers and other Employees) Act' 1971.

(2) The Uttar Pradesh Junior High School (Payment of Salaries of Teachers and other Employees) Act' 1978.

(a) The Challenge:-

5. The petitioners herein are recognized institutions imparting education from Classes I to VIII. They have been categorized in four categories in view of the submissions of the learned Advocate General:-

Category A- Unaided Junior High Schools

Category B- Primary Sections recognized first and Junior High School.

Category C- Junior High School recognized first and attached primary sections later.

Category D- Recognized primary and junior High Schools receiving grant-in-aid by wrong orders.

6. Some of the petitioners institutions had been receiving grant-in-aid and salary of the teachers of the primary sections/ school which had been withdrawn by individual orders passed by the Special Secretary, Basic Education and some of the petitioners institutions have been denied grant on the ground that the grant-in-aid cannot be accorded to a primary institution after introduction of the amendments by U.P. Act No.2 of 2018 and U.P. Act No.3 of 2018 in the Act' 1972 and the Act' 1978; respectively, [In short Amendment Acts 2017].

7. We may note, at the outset, that the petitioners though assailed individual orders passed by the State Government denying the benefit of aid to the concerned institutions by seeking a writ of certiorari but the learned counsels for the petitioners have addressed us only with respect to the validity of the Amendment Acts. It was agreed by the Counsels for the petitioners that the correctness of the individual orders would depend upon the answer to the main question with respect to the constitutional validity of the Amendment Acts' 2017. The submission is that the only basis to reject the claim for bringing the institution in the grant-in-aid list is the Amendment Acts No.2 of 2018 & No.3 of 2018; the individual facts of each case, hence, need not to be examined. The outcome of the challenge would determine the rights and liability of the parties before us and as such we leave