Appointments in aided schools not approved by govt.
Appointments in aided schools not approved by govt.
A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has held that the State government is not obliged to pay salary to teachers of aided schools whose appointments have not been approved by the government.
The Bench, while allowing an appeal filed by the government against a single judge’s directive to pay salary in a case, observed that the High Court had reiterated the position that the manager of an aided school could make an appointment only in accordance with the provisions of the Kerala Education Rules. The obligation of the government to pay salary arose only when the appointment was duly approved.
It was also clarified by the court that the government would not have any obligation to pay salary to a teacher for the mere reason that he/she had worked pursuant to the appointment.
The Bench also added that if the appointments were illegal and void, the scheme of the Kerala Education Act and the Rules envisaged that the government did not have any obligation to pay salary to the teachers, for grant of salary to such teachers would amount to a premium on the conduct of the manager in flouting the statutory provisions.
The government contended that in terms of the provisions of the Act and the Rules, the government was bound to pay salary only to a teacher who was appointed against a sanctioned post and whose appointment was approved by the educational officer.
