New Delhi, Oct 28 (PTI) Committees constituted at zonal level to deal with the issue of fee hike and payment of salaries to teachers tantamount to relegating judicial functions to them which is not permissible in law, the Delhi High Court has held.
The high court said courts can constitute committees but they have to be only fact finding in nature and judicial functions cannot be relegated to them.
A bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Vimal Kumar Yadav passed the judgment while setting aside a single judge’s order and remanding it back to the roster bench for fresh consideration.
The division bench said it was not in a position to sustain this portion of the single judge’s order by which he had formed committees at the zonal and the central level to decide the issues of the teachers and the schools.
“In the opinion of this court, the portion of the impugned judgment wherein the single judge has constituted committees at the zonal and central level to deal with the issues of fee hike, payment of salaries to the teachers as per the recommendations of the 6th and 7th CPC, and to consider as to whether the teachers would be entitled to the claims as sought for in the writ petitions, actually tantamount to relegating the judicial functions to the said committees, which is not permissible in law,” the bench said in its October 10 judgment.
It said the single judge has conferred upon the committees the judicial power to decide the entitlement or claim of teachers by considering their claims and the objections raised by the schools.
There is no representative of the teachers in the committee. At best, the single judge could have formed these committees to furnish a report to the court which ought to have adjudicated upon the issues raised by the teachers and the schools without giving the committees the power to decide the issues, it said.
The bench said courts cannot relegate judicial functions to the committees asking them to adjudicate upon a lis – which is the function of courts or tribunals.
“The judicial functions are to be discharged by the judges and cannot be delegated to any committee formed by courts. Committees can only be constituted by the courts to give a report on the facts to assist the court in adjudicating rival claims,” it said.
The bench was dealing with a batch of appeals filed by various private schools against a single judge decision directing the Delhi Government to constitute committees at zonal and central levels.
The purpose of the committees was to supervise implementation of recommendations prescribed in 6th and 7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) regarding payment of salaries and arrears to staff of private unaided schools and recognized private unaided minority schools in Delhi.
The bench, while setting aside the single judge’s ruling, said “It is made clear that this court has not made any observations on the merits of the case and all the rights and contentions of the parties are left open to be adjudicated by the single judge”. PTI SKV ZMN
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