HC to Assam govt: Issue fresh ad for HS school principal post

Guwahati: The Gauhati high court has ordered the state government to issue a fresh advertisement for the post of principal at a higher secondary school at Nalbari. The judgment came because the previous advertisement did not take into account revised rules of recruitment and, consequently, held valid candidates ineligible.
In January, the high court had ordered the state government to amend the Assam Secondary Education (Provincialisation) Service Rules of 2003, allowing high school and high madrassa graduate teachers to apply for the post of principal of higher secondary schools in the state.

However, in the advertisement by the state education department these revisions were not taken into account. Two petitions by high school teachers said that this ultra vires rule (outside one’s legal authority) had restricted qualified applicants from applying for the job. As a result, graduate teachers from higher secondary schools could apply for the post but graduate teachers from high schools, with the same qualifications, could not.

“Despite the previous court order, the department has issued an advertisement seeking candidature for the post of principal of a senior secondary school at Nalbari, violating the modified service rules,” advocate Bishwajyoti Purkayastha, counsel of the petitioners, said. “Though the earlier court order has allowed eligible school teachers from high schools and high madrassas to apply, the latest advertisement did not. So, we moved the court again and it set aside the impugned advertisement,” he added.