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TMI Blog1964 (10) TMI 104X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g teachers in private colleges. The University has in pursuance of the powers so conferred on it framed rules for the grant of leave to teachers of private colleges which are binding on the Governing Bodies of such colleges, and had actually been adopted by the Governing Body of the College in July 1956 for its teachers. Under these rules the Governing Body of the College cannot compel a teacher to take leave without pay. 2. The College receives grant-in-aid from the State of Assam and there are certain conditions for giving grant-in-aid. These conditions do not provide for withdrawal of the grant-in-aid if a private college fails to put a teacher, who seeks election to a legislative or local body, on compulsory leave without pay from the date of the filing of nomination till the end of the next academic session or till expiry of the term of the office to which the teacher is elected. 3. The respondent as already stated is a teacher in the College. He applied for leave with pay from January 2, 1962 to March 5, 1962 in order to contest a seat for Parliament. This leave was granted to him by the Governing Body of the College by resolution No. 1 of March 9, 1962. The respondent ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by the Gauhati University, which had been accepted by the College. He also contended that the Rules not having the force of law did not affect the powers of the Governing Body of the College in the matter of its functions. Consequently the second resolution of the Governing Body dated March 9, 1962 was proper and correct and the respondent was properly allowed to rejoin duty after the expiry of his leave on March 6, 1962. The Director had no authority to interfere with the second resolution of the Governing Body dated March 9, 1962 and that resolutions of this character passed by a Governing Body did not require the approval of the Director and would have effect by themselves. It was further contended that as the leave rules which govern the College did not give power to the Governing Body to put a teacher on compulsory leave without pay against his will and consent, the resolution of the Governing Body dated April 4, 1962 by which the respondent was put on compulsory leave without pay was of no effect and in any case the Governing Body should not have acted on the illegal direction of the Director. Finally it was urged that the Governing Body acted as it did on a threat contained ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is material for our purposes is in these terms :- An employee desiring to seek election to the Legislative Body or to hold office with any political organisation or local bodies shall be on compulsory leave without pay from the date of the filing of his nomination till the end of the next academic session or till the termination of the term of office to which he may be elected as the case may be. Such employee however shall not be allowed to retain lien on his post for a period exceeding five years. 6. The Rules therefore were framed in consultation with University and the Assam College Teachers' Association, which presumably represents the teachers of all private colleges. The Governing Body of the College was also consulted and it accepted the Rules to be promulgated. In this Governing Body the members of the teaching staff of the College are well represented and it was after the concurrence of the University, the College Teachers' Association and the Governing Body of the College in particular in which the teachers of the College were well represented that the Rules were notified. 7. The case of the appellants was that considering the manner in which the R ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hich had been accepted by the Governing Body of the College in which the teachers of the College were well represented, they would be in the nature of contractual obligations which could not be enforced by the issue of a writ under Art. 226. 10. The High Court first considered the question whether the Rules had statutory force and came to the conclusion that they could not be said to be issued under the proviso to s. 21(g) of the Act on which reliance was placed and therefore did not have any statutory force. But the High Court further held that even if the Rules had no statutory force it was open to it to issue a mandamus under Art. 226 to the Director, who is a public authority, to refrain from giving effect to the Rules which had no statutory force. It therefore made a direction to the Director not to give effect to his letter of March 20, 1962. 11. Further it was urged before the High Court that the Governing Body of the College was not a statutory body and therefore no writ or direction could issue to it and the remedy of the respondent was to go to the civil court to enforce his right (if any). The High Court however held that the words of Art. 226 were wide enough and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n framed in order to give revised grants to private colleges to enable them to give higher scales of pay etc., to their teachers in accordance with the recommendation of the University Grants Commission. The Rules have been held by the High Court to have no statutory force, and that is not disputed before us. In these circumstances it is clear that the Rules are mere executive instructions containing conditions on which grants would be made to private colleges to implement the recommendations of the University Grants Commission as to pay scales etc., of teachers of private colleges. Where such conditions of grant-in-aid are laid down by mere executive instructions, it is open to a private college to accept those instructions or not to accept them. If it decides not to accept the instructions it will naturally not get the grant-in-aid which is contingent on its accepting the conditions contained in the instructions. On the other hand, if the college accepts the conditions contained in the instructions, it receives the grant-in-aid. If however having accepted the instructions containing the conditions and terms, the college does not carry out the instructions, the Government will nat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on in our opinion governs the present case also, for it has been found by the High Court, and it is not disputed before us, that the Rules are mere administrative instructions and have not the force of law as statutory rules. They therefore confer no right on the teachers of private colleges which would entitle them to maintain a writ petition under Art. 226 for the enforcement or non-enforcement of any provision of the Rules. The Rules being mere administrative instructions are matters between private colleges and the Government in the matter of grant-in-aid to such colleges, and no teacher of a college has any right under the Rules to ask either for their enforcement or for their non-enforcement. We are therefore of opinion that the High Court was in error when it granted a writ against the State through the Director, by which the Director was asked not to give effect to its letter dated March 20, 1962, against the Governing Body of the College. 14. Then we come to the question whether a writ could have been issued against the Governing Body of the College. We find however that there is no appeal by the College against the order of the High Court issuing a writ against it. In ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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