St. Mary’s Education Society & Anr Versus Rajendra Prasad Bhargava & Ors.

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St. Mary’s Education Society & Anr Versus Rajendra Prasad Bhargava & Ors.

Number of judges: 2

Name of the judges: Aniruddha Bose and J.B.Pardiwala

1.       BRIEF FACTS:

Sh. Rajendra Prasad Bhargava was the principal in a minority school whose services was terminated by the school management on ground of indiscipline. Sh. Rajendra Prasad preferred a writ petition before Hon’ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh against the termination order under Article 226 of Constitution. Hon’ble Single Judge dismissed the petition with the contention that the writ petition is not maintainable under Article 226 against a private institution. Hon’ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh Division Bench in Writ Appeal No. 485/2017 held a contrary view that writ petition is maintainable under Article 226 of the Constitution. The matter reached to Hon’ble Supreme Court of India where Hon’ble SCI held that as the school is not an ‘state’ under Article 12 of the Constitution therefore writ is not maintainable under Article 226 of Constitution and upheld the stand of single judge.


2.       CONTENTIONS OF THE PARTIES

Party

Contentions

Petitioner (Bhargava)

Claimed wrongful termination and sought judicial review under Article 226. Argued that the institution performs public functions and is bound by CBSE Bye-laws.

Respondents (St. Mary’s Education Society & Disciplinary Committee)

Argued that the institution is a private unaided minority body, not “State” under Article 12. Asserted that service disputes are contractual and not amenable to writ jurisdiction.

3.       RATIO DECIDENDI:

- Article 226 jurisdiction is available only when the action challenged involves a public law element.

- A private unaided minority institution is not “State” under Article 12 and its service decisions are private contractual matters.

- CBSE Bye-laws do not have statutory force unless incorporated into the employment contract.

- Judicial review under Article 226 cannot be invoked to enforce private contracts unless there is a statutory or public duty involved.

 

4.       RELIED JUDGEMENTS

Case

Citation

Principle relied

Binny Ltd. v. V. Sadasivan

(2005) 6 SCC 657

Public duty must be involved for writ jurisdiction

Federal Bank v. Sagar Thomas

(2003) 10 SCC 733

Private bodies not amenable to writ unless discharging public functions

Marwari Balika Vidyalaya v. Asha Shrivastava

(2020) 14 SCC 449

Service disputes in private institutions not subject to writ jurisdiction

Ramesh Ahluwalia v. State of Punjab

(2012) 12 SCC 331

Limited scope of writ in private employment matters
Location: Delhi, India

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