Panaji: In a major relief for minority institutions, the high court has quashed the education department’s order rejecting a minority institution’s appointment of a principal.The Society of Franciscan Sisters of Mary, a registered society in Goa, transferred a sister serving as headmistress at an institution in Mumbai to Our Lady of the Rosary Higher Secondary School, Dona Paula, and appointed her principal in July 2024. The institution said no suitable candidate was available on the seniority list for the post. The education department refused approval, stating that “the present case cannot be considered in terms of the Goa School Education Act Rules”.The high court said the department’s rejection was an “arbitrary and colourable exercise of powers and is grossly contrary to the law laid down by Supreme Court especially when the factual and legal position was repeatedly made clear to the department”.“The minority institutions are not bound by the seniority rule alone. When a minority institution decides to appoint a candidate to the post of principal or headmaster, it has complete freedom to choose a candidate of its choice, provided the candidate is qualified in accordance with the education rules,” the court said. It added that education rules relating to the constitution of a departmental promotion committee, adherence to the seniority list and similar requirements apply to other institutions, but not to minority institutions.A division bench of Justices Suman Shyam and Amit Jamsandekar rejected the education department’s submissions on the applicability of promotion rules and the seniority list.The high court said it found no arbitrariness, unfairness or unreasonableness in the appointment.“When the selected candidate is qualified as required under the education rules, then it is immaterial whether that candidate is transferred from another institution where the candidate was serving as headmaster. Even though the headmaster is a feeder post for the post of principal, the provisions of the rules cannot be made applicable to the minority institutions with such rigour. For appointment by transfer to the post of principal, there is no requirement that the candidate must be serving as principal in another institution when it comes to a minority institution,” the court held.The court added that there was nothing on record to show that the institution’s selection process for the post of principal was arbitrary, non-transparent or unfair.“In the present case the respondents, by a one-line rejection, have effectively rendered the right guaranteed by Article 30(1) of the Constitution as redundant,” the court said.The high court also noted that, in similar cases, the department had approved appointments of sisters transferred from Mumbai to Goa without applying the education rules, adding that “there is no justification to apply the same Rules in the present case”.Senior advocate J E Coelho Pereira, along with Vledson Braganza and Pancham Fadte, appeared for the minority institution.
