A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Friday held that the State government had no power to extend the policy of reservation in appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff to private non-minority aided colleges.
The court made the ruling while allowing a batch of writ appeals filed by various aided college managements against a single judge directive to provide reservation in the posts of teaching and non-teaching staff in private non-minority aided colleges.
The single judge had also directed all universities to make necessary amendments to their statutes or frame statutes to ensure that appropriate reservation was made for the SC/ST candidates in the appointment of teaching as well as non-teaching staff in aided non-minority colleges.
The Bench observed that the Supreme Court had held that the right to establish and administer educational institutions by non-minority communities was part of the right under Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.
The government action requiring the private educational institutions to follow the reservation policy of the government would be a serious inroad into the autonomy of such institutions as recognised by the apex court.
Article 15(5) and 16(4) of the Constitution (reservations) could not be interpreted “so as to permit the State to insist that its reservation policy should be followed by private educational institutions in the matter of appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff.
The court added that the government control that was envisaged in the matter of appointment of teaching/non-teaching staff of private educational institutions extended only to framing of rules and regulations that promoted good administration and prevented maladministration. In other words, the power to appointment staff, both teaching and non-teaching, in private educational institutions was vested in the management and governing body thereof. Except for the fact that the salaries of the teachers were being paid by the State, all other controls over the staff were vested with private management.
The court also pointed out that the UGC regulations were only guidelines in this regard and did not contemplate implementation of the reservation policy in private aided educational institutions.
