Schools can make temporary appts against permanent vacancy: HC

The Bombay High Court has held that it is not open to a School Tribunal to assume that an appointment of a teacher made against a clear and permanent vacancy is deemed to be on probation.
"School Tribunal cannot disregard the terms and conditions of the letter of appointment, if it expressly provides that the appointment is on a temporary basis, for a limited term," observed a full bench in its order yesterday.
The full bench was constituted by Chief Justice Mohit Shah in the light of reference made by a single judge who had opined that it may not be within the jurisdiction of a School Tribunal to hold that an employee, who has been appointed on temporary basis, to be deemed to be appointed on probation, on the ground that there was a clear and permanent vacancy.

"Though the Management has implicit power to appoint a duly qualified person on contractual employment even against permanent vacancy but that must be only an interim arrangement till a suitable candidate is found in the selection process. It cannot be continued on year-to-year basis in succession," said Justices K K Tated, Ranjit More and A M Khanwilkar.
If the Management holds the selection process in the prescribed manner but wants to appoint the selected candidate on temporary basis, it must contemporaneously record tangible reasons as to why the selected candidate is not suitable to be appointed on probation against the permanent vacancy.

In that event, the Appropriate Authority can consider the challenge to the appointment on temporary basis instead of probation, against a permanent vacancy.
Further, Managements, receiving grants in aid, from Government, should not and cannot be permitted to appoint a duly qualified person on temporary basis against a permanent vacancy, without holding selection process as soon as possible in the prescribed manner, the judges held.