Gujarat HC upholds amendment giving state recruitment power in linguistic-religious minority schools

Ahmedabad, Feb 3 (PTI) The Gujarat High Court has said the 2021 amendment to an Act giving the state education board powers to appoint teachers and principals in linguistic and religious minority schools is meant to achieve the objective of excellence in education by maintaining standards of such institutions.

The division bench of Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal recently dismissed a batch of petitions by various minority institutions challenging the 2021 amendments to Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Act 1972 that granted the state government power to recruit teachers and principals in such schools.

They had challenged Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (Amendment) Act 2021 giving the state education board powers to provide for qualifications and methods of selection for principals and teachers of registered private secondary and higher secondary schools.

The petitioners claimed the amendment was "unjustified and unlawful," and denied the fundamental right of the petitioners to achieve excellence and to administer its institution as per its requirements keeping in mind broad principles of the constitution governing minority institutions.

The 2021 amendment to the Act, empowering the state government to regulate minority institutions, has been made "to achieve excellence in education by maintaining standards of minority institutions," the court stated in its judgment uploaded on its website on Saturday.

The provisions "are not violative of the rights of the minority education institutions guaranteed under Article 30(1) of the Constitution of India," the court said.

With the qualifying marks in the personal interview to be allocated by the Minority School Selection Committee headed by the nominee of the concerned trust/management of the minority school, there is "absolutely no fetters on the powers of the minority school management in selection of the best suited candidate," it said.

Further, in light of the law laid down by the Constitution Bench of the Apex Court in the Ahmedabad St. Xaviers and TMA Pai Foundation, the right conferred on the religious and linguistic minorities to administer educational institutions of their choice is not an absolute right and is not free from regulations, the court noted.

By merely applying the provisions to minority institutions, the state has not crossed the line to encroach upon the rights of the minorities to run and administer their institutions, it said.

The HC further said even though the power of the state to regulate is not unfettered, merely conferment of power by enabling provisions alone cannot be perceived as infringement of protection granted to minority institutions under Article 30 of the Constitution of India.

The selection process under the said Act is an attempt of the state government to balance the twin objectives of achieving academic excellence while retaining minority character of the institution by giving them freedom in selection at the stage of scrutiny and personal interview, the court observed.

"The Rules 2021, thus, ensure that the minority character of the institution is preserved while the best and most suitable candidate is selected through a fair and transparent procedure of selection in conformity with the qualifying criteria provided in the Regulations 1974," it said. PTI KA PD BNM