SC seeks Gujarat govt's reply on plea against HC order on recruitment in minority schools

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to examine a plea challenging the high court order that upheld 2021 amendments to the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GSHSE) Act allowing the state to make rules on recruitment of teachers and principals in linguistic and religious minority schools.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh issued notice to the state government but refused to stay the amendments saying it cannot do so without hearing the other side. Senior Advocate CU Singh, appearing for petitioners St Xaviers High School Loyola Hall and others, submitted that the high court decision disregarded the nine-judge and 11-judge bench judgments of the Supreme Court.

Singh submitted that though the state can lay down minimum criteria and qualification standards, regulation cannot extend to the choice of principals and teachers. Justice Surya Kant said the finding of the high court is that the selection committee or the executive committee should be dominated by members of the minority community.

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Singh said in the instant case the committee was entirely nominated by the state government and 11 persons were nominated. The high court on January 23, while hearing a batch of petitions, upheld the 2021 amendments to the GSHSE Act, saying that the language of the provisions did not denote that the state had any unfettered or unlimited power to make regulations.

It had said that though the power of the state to regulate is not unfettered, mere conferment of power by enabling provisions cannot be perceived as an infringement of protection granted to minority institutions under Article 30 of the Constitution.