Delhi High Court: In a petition to quash the impugned orders dated 22-04-2019, 18-09-2019, 10-01-2020, and 22-09-2021 passed by the Delhi School Education Department wherein the salary of the petitioner was suspended and qualifications leading to appointment were questioned, a Single Judge Bench of Tushar Rao Gedela, J. quashed and set aside all impugned orders while holding that the petitioner was entitled to all back wages along with consequential benefits and that the principle of no work no pay had no basis to stand on in the present matter.
Background
In the present matter, the school (respondent no. 1) appointed the petitioner on probation as a Trained Graduate Teacher (‘TGT’) for English. Upon completing her probation, the school confirmed the petitioner as TGT English vide order dated 30-09-2009.
It was stated that since the father-in-law of the petitioner became a witness in a CBI raid against the Head of the School (‘HoS’), a grudge was held by the HoS which filtered across to the petitioner.
The petitioner stated that the Department of Education took over the school in 2013. After almost 6 years of service, the HoS, due to the mala fide against the petitioner, filed a false complaint to the Deputy Director that the petitioner lacked the requisite qualifications when she was appointed. Consequently, the Deputy Director directed the matter to be inquired into and put the salary of the petitioner on hold.
Aggrieved, the petitioner filed a petition before this Court wherein the authority was directed to adjudicate a show cause notice within 8 weeks and to release 50 percent of the petitioner’s salary including arrears.
The petitioner was paid the salary but instead of deciding the representation, a charge memo was issued against her, alleging that her appointment was illegal since she did not have a B.Ed. degree which was an essential qualification.
Consequent to the petition filed by the petitioner seeking directions to quash the suspension order as well as the charge memo along with the order dated 13-05-2016, the Court gave another opportunity to the petitioner to make a representation, directing the Competent Authority to provide a personal hearing before the final order was passed.
The Competent Authority, vide order dated 05-08-2016, approved the order dated 19-05-2016 by DAC which imposed penalty upon the petitioner. Through an order dated 31-10-2016, the authority held that the petitioner did not possess the requisite qualification for the post of TGT and ordered her dismissal.
In compliance with the order passed by the Delhi School Tribunal (‘DST’) for a statutory appeal filed, the petitioner filed a representation under Rule 121 of the Delhi School Education Rules, 1973 for payment of complete back wages. Since the respondents were not responding, the petitioner was constrained to file an execution petition before the Tribunal.
The order of the Tribunal was challenged by the Directorate of Education (‘DOE’) which was set aside by this Court vide order dated 19-03-2018. Aggrieved by the dismissal, the DOE preferred a Special Leave Petition which was dismissed with a specific direction that the order impugned therein should be complied with within six weeks.
Consequently, by the first impugned order dated 22-04-2019, the petitioner was only reinstated but no back wages were granted. To this, the petitioner filed a contempt petition, and before it was taken up, on 18-09-2019, the second impugned order by the DOE was passed wherein also back wages were denied and only reinstatement was considered.
Through a corrigendum dated 02-01-2020, the back wages from 28-07-2017 till 24-04-2019 i.e. when the petitioner was reinstated were directed to be paid, and the back wages for the period from removal of service to the date of order passed by the DST were denied on the principle of no work no pay.
Analysis and Decision
The Court stated that an employee’s entitlement to back wages in situations like the present case was no longer res integra and that the law in this regard had been crystallized by the Supreme Court in Deepali Gundu Surwase v. Kranti Junior Adhyapak Mahavidyalaya, (2013) 10 SCC 324.
The Court stated that it was apparent from the facts that the DST had categorically found that the dismissal from service was illegal, and, on that basis, the said dismissal was set aside. Further, the Court analyzed the facts of the matter and the various petitions along with the orders that were passed. Further, the Court stated that the principle of no work no pay as applied by the DDE had no legs to stand on, particularly in view of the ratio laid down by the Supreme Court in Deepali Gundu Surwase (supra).
Further, the Court noted that in the application of the no work no pay principle, a distinction had been drawn in those cases where the orders of termination have been held to be illegal and simultaneously it has been found that the terminated employee had shown a willingness to continue in services, but was deprived by some reason or the other by the authority.
The Court noted that the particular issue in respect of the deprivation of rendering services was considered by this Court in Hena Dutta v. The Director of Education, 2024 SCC OnLine Del 2513 and Virendra Singh v. The Manager, Haryana Shakti Secondary School, 2024 SCC OnLine Del 3559, and that the ratio laid down was squarely applicable to the present case.
The Court stated that since there was no restraint on the orders of the Tribunal dated 28-07-2017, there was no reason why the respondent was not under an obligation to reinstate the services of the petitioner, and there was no reason disentitling the petitioner from rendering the services during this period.
The Court, while following the ratio laid down in the aforementioned decisions, allowed the petition and orders dated 22-04-2019, 18-09-2019, and 22-09-2021 were quashed and set aside.
The order dated 10-01-2020 was quashed only in respect of the disentitlement of the petitioner for back wages.
The Court further held that the petitioner would be entitled to all the benefits and full back wages from the date of termination till the date of passing of the order by the DST i.e. 28-07-2017 and all consequential benefits were to flow to the petitioner.
The Court, while disposing of the petition, directed the respondents to work out the calculations and details of payment to be made and accordingly complete the process within six weeks. Payment of arrears was directed to be made within two weeks, failing which, the petitioner would be entitled to interest at 6 percent per annum till the date of payment.
[Manisha Sharma v. Vidya Bhawan Girls Senior Secondary School, 2024 SCC OnLine Del 3813, Decided on 13-05-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For Petitioner — Advocate Abhishek Kaushik, Advocate Swati Roy Prasad
For Respondent — Standing Counsel Avnish Ahlawat, Advocate Nitesh Kumar Singh, Advocate Laavanya Kaushik, Advocate Aliza Azam, Advocate Mohnish Sehrawat