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Judgment
Heard the learned counsel for the parties.
This appeal is directed against the order passed [M.K. Gandhi v. Director of Education (Secondary) U.P., 2005 SCC OnLine All 728 : (2006) 62 ALR 27] by the Full Bench of the Allahabad High Court whereby the Allahabad High Court has held that Delhi Public School, Ghaziabad is not "State" within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India and directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (in short "CBSE") to issue show-cause notice to DPS School as to why it should not be disaffiliated for terminating the services of Respondents 1 to 3 contrary to bye-laws and secondly, disaffiliate DPS School unless DPS School undertakes to conduct an enquiry in accordance with affiliation bye-laws and pass an appropriate order afresh on the basis of enquiry and thirdly in case DPS School undertakes to conduct the enquiry, then the Board may give reasonable time to complete the enquiry, extend the time, if need be, permit DPS School to treat Respondents 1 to 3 under suspension from the date of termination of service till the completion of the inquiry.
The brief facts which are necessary for disposal of this appeal are as follows: that all the respondents were teachers in DPS Schoool, Ghaziabad. Their services were terminated. Therefore, they approached the High Court of Allahabad for setting aside the termination order. The learned Single Judge referred the matter to a larger Bench on the question as to whether the writ petition is maintainable against the private school or not, as there was conflict of opinion of that High Court. Subsequently, the matter was referred to the larger Bench and the larger Bench after hearing the parties, held that no writ will lie against the private school as it is not a "State" within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India. Having held that the writ petition is not maintainable against the private body, still, they directed CBSE to take action, as mentioned above.
With great respect to the Full Bench of the High Court, we fail to understand the direction given by the Allahabad High Court. In our opinion, the direction given by the Allahabad High Court to CBSE is totally misconceived and uncalled for. When the Allahabad High Court has already held that DPS School is not a "State" within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India and the writ petition is not maintainable, there was no necessity for giving a direction to CBSE which virtually amounts to granting a declaration in favour of those teachers whose services have been terminated. We fail to appreciate the view taken by the Allahabad High Court by unnecessarily complicating the issue by involving CBSE in a private dispute between the teachers and DPS. The Allahabad High Court should have stopped short of holding that the said DPS is a private body and the writ is not maintainable.
Hence, we are of the view that no writ is maintainable against a private school as it is not a "State" within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India and no direction could have been given by the High Court to CBSE for interfering with the termination of the teachers. The proper remedy for the teachers was to file a civil suit for damages, if there was any.
Subsequently, we allow this appeal and set aside the order passed by the Allahabad High Court to the extent of giving a direction to the Board. There will be no order as to costs.