2024 INSC 635 1

REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO(S). 7440-7441 OF 2012

NEW DELHI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

AND ANOTHER .…APPELLANT(S)

VERSUS

MANJU TOMAR AND OTHERS ..RESPONDENT(S)

WITH

CIVIL APPEAL NO(S). 7442-7444 OF 2012

J U D G M E N T

Mehta, J.

1. Heard.

2. These appeals filed by New Delhi Municipal Council

1

(hereinafter being referred to as ‘NDMC’) and Delhi Sikh Gurdwara

Management Committee

2 (hereinafter being referred to as

‘DSGMC’) arise out of a common judgment dated 9

th December,

2009 passed by the High Court of Delhi in Letters Patent Appeal

1

Civil Appeal No(s). 7440-7441 of 2012

2

Civil Appeal No(s). 7442-7444 of 2012

2

Nos. 441 and 442 of 2009 and hence, they have been heard and

are being decided together.

Civil Appeal Nos. 7442-7444 of 2012

3. Facts in a nutshell relevant and essential for disposal of the

appeals are noted hereinbelow.

4. The appellant-DSGMC was managing and operating a school,

namely, Khalsa Boys Primary School (in short ‘school’),

constructed by it in the premises of the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib,

New Delhi. The school was initially started with 130 students, five

teachers including the Headmistress, 2 peons and one helper. The

school was receiving 95% grant from the NDMC and remaining 5%

contribution was made by the appellant-DSGMC towards the

budget of the school. Respondents No. 1, 5, 6, 7 and 8 were

employed as the Headmistress, Assistant Teacher, Water Women,

Sweeper-cum-Chowkidar, Chowkidar, respectively in the school.

5. It is claimed that over a period of time, the building of the

school became old and dilapidated and also, considering the

growing number of devotees visiting the Gurudwara, the appellant-

DSGMC was finding it difficult to run the school on a day-to-day

basis. The appellant-DSGMC, therefore, decided to shift the school

from its existing location to a new premises i.e. at Mata Sundari

3

College, Old Building, New Delhi. Since the school was receiving

95% grant from the NDMC, the appellant-DSGMC moved the

NDMC seeking permission to shift the school.

6. Upon receiving information about the proposed shifting of the

school by the appellant-DSGMC, the Headmistress and other staff

of the school challenged the said proposal by filing Writ Petitions

3

in the High Court of Delhi. An ex-parte stay order dated 30

th May,

2005 was passed by the learned Single Judge of High Court of

Delhi, staying the proposed shifting of the school. However, in spite

of the stay order being granted and having been communicated,

the appellant-DSGMC demolished a substantial part of the school

building thereby, making it non-functional. Consequent to the

demolition of the school building, the NDMC stopped the grant-in-

aid under Rule 69 of the Delhi Education Act and Rules, 1973

(hereinafter after being referred to as ‘Delhi Education Rules’) on

the reasoning that it was under an obligation to provide grant-in-

aid to schools which fell within its territorial jurisdiction and that

the alternate location selected by the appellant-DSGMC, i.e., Mata

Sundari College was outside the jurisdiction of the NDMC.

3

WP(C) Nos. 9951-52/2005

4

7. The High Court of Delhi disposed of the above writ petitions

vide order dated 6

th October, 2005 with a direction to the NDMC

to consider and decide within four weeks as to whether ex-post

facto sanction could be granted to the appellant-DSGMC to close

down the school since the same was being shifted to an area which

was outside the jurisdiction of the NDMC, thus, the shifting could

lead to the closure of the school. Following the direction given by

the High Court, the NDMC issued an order dated 14

th February,

2006 whereby, it invoked Rule 55(1) of the Delhi Education Rules

and noted that ex-post facto sanction could not be granted for

running the school at the Mata Sundari College because it fell

beyond its jurisdiction and consequently, it was decided to

withdraw the recognition and to stop the grant-in-aid to the school

being run by the appellant-DSGMC.

8. The teaching as well as non-teaching staff of the school filed

fresh writ petitions

4 in the High Court of Delhi, seeking a direction

for absorption in a NDMC/Government aided school and also to

command the appellant-DSGMC to pay them the salaries and

other service benefits.

4

WP(C) Nos. 13044-55/2006

5

9. The said writ petitions were later amended and the order of

the NDMC dated 14

th February, 2006 was also assailed by the

teaching as well as non-teaching staff of the school. The writ

petitions were disposed of by the learned Single Judge vide order

dated 13

th July, 2009 in the following manner:-

i) NDMC was directed to pass a speaking order afresh within

four weeks from the date of receipt of th e decision

reflecting as to whether ex-post facto sanction in terms of

Rule 46 of Delhi Education Rules could be granted to the

appellant-DSGMC to close down the school and if not why;

ii) The appellant-DSGMC would continue to pay the salaries

to the serving staff and pensionary benefits to petitioners

No. 6 to 12(respondents No. 8 to 14 herein) w.e.f. March,

2006, till the NDMC passed a fresh order in terms of the

decision.

10. The above order of the learned Single Judge was assailed by

the then serving teachers/staff and the retired teachers of the

school before the Division Bench of the High Court by filing two

Letters Patent Appeals

5, which were allowed vide order dated 9

th

December 2009, with the following directions:

5

LPA No. 441 of 2009 in Ms. Manju Tomar & Ors. v. NCT & Ors. & LPA No. 442 of 2009 in Ms. Santosh Kaur

& Ors. v. NCT & Ors.

6

(i) Pay the arrears of salary;

(ii) Employ the petitioners No. 1-5(respondents No. 1-5 herein)

in a Government or Government-aided school within

twelve weeks of the order dated 9

th December, 2009 i.e. by

8

th March, 2010;

(iii) Otherwise, the DSGMC would be required to pay the

petitioners No. 1-5(respondents No. 1-5 herein) the full pay

and all perquisites from 4

th March, 2010 onwards;

(iv) NDMC was directed to pay to petitioners No. 6 to

12(respondents No. 8 to 14 herein) the entire arrears of

salary/retiral benefits with simple interest @ 9% per

annum within twelve weeks. NDMC was further directed

to regularly transfer pensionary amounts directly to the

bank accounts of the petitioners No. 6 to 12(respondents

No. 8 to 14 herein). However, NDMC was given liberty to

seek reimbursement of the entire amount, as directed

above, from the appellant-DSGMC which had closed the

school without prior approval of the appropriate authority;

(v) After re-employment, the tenure, seniority, pay scales and

perquisites of the in-service staff i.e. the petitioners No. 1

7

to 5(respondents No. 1 to 5 herein) would not be adversely

affected just because of closure of the school;

(vi) Since the petitioners No. 1 to 5(respondents No. 1 to 5

herein) had not worked during the period 2006-2009, they

would be entitled to receive only 50% of their pay and

perquisites but this period would be counted for the

purposes of their seniority and for computing their

pensionary and other statutory benefits.

11. The said common order of the Division Bench of the High

Court is assailed in these appeals preferred by the NDMC and the

appellant-DSGMC, respectively.

12. We have heard and considered the submissions advanced by

learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the

impugned judgments and the material placed on record.

13. The following facts as emerging from the record are not in

dispute:-

(i) That appellant-DSGMC demolished a substantial part of

the school building without seeking permission from the

competent authority, i.e., NDMC, leading to the closure of

the school.

8

(ii) That the demolition was undertaken in spite of an interim

stay order passed by the High Court of Delhi on 30

th May,

2005 in Writ Petition(Civil) Nos. 9951-52 of 2005, staying

the proposed shifting of the school.

(iii) The recognition and grant extended to the school was

withdrawn by the NDMC vide order dated 14

th February,

2006, and as a corollary thereto, the appellant-DSGMC

was no longer entitled to receive 95% grant which was

provided by the NDMC for running the school in the

premises of the Gurudwara. Thus, the obligation to

reimburse the pay and other service benefits accruing to

the teaching and non-teaching staff of the school fell upon

the appellant-DSGMC.

(iv) That the appellant-DSGMC did not challenge the decision

of the NDMC dated 14

th February, 2006, withdrawing the

recognition and the grant-in-aid, before any forum.

(v) That the employees of the school have filed a Contempt

Petition

6 before the High Court of Delhi wherein, the

learned Single Judge vide order dated 1

st October, 2019

observed as below: -

6

Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 805 of 2016 in Manju Tomar & Ors. v. Manjit Singh GK & Ors.

9

“In effect, the respondent no. 4 in the LPA namely:

Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee, Guru

Gobind Singh Bhawan, Gurdwara Rakabganj, New

Delhi-110001, was required to do the following:

i) pay the arrears of salary;

ii) employ the petitioners in a Government

or Government-aided school within twelve

weeks of the order dated 09.12.2009 i.e. by

08.03.2010.

iii) otherwise, the DSGMC would be

required to pay the petitioners the full pay

and all perquisites from 04.03.2010

onwards.

Admittedly, the employment was not done till

30.01.2018. There is a delay of roughly eight

years, short of 36 days. Respondent no. 4-DSGMC

had offered employment to the petitioners by its

letter dated 17.08.2010 calling upon them to join

Guru Tegh Bahadur International School,

Fatehabad, Haryana. The petitioners declined to

join the said school, because the said offer was not

in accordance with the directions of this Court i.e.

the school was neither Government owned nor

Government-aided. Furthermore, it was situated

in Haryana and not in Delhi.

Keeping the said response in mind, the DSGMC

offered yet another employment at their various

schools in Delhi, however, yet again none of these

schools were either Government owned or

Government-aided. Hence, the petitioners expressed

their reservations in joining the said schools. Their

concern primarily was that their service conditions

and employment benefits should not be affected,

which indeed, had been secured by the order of the

Division Bench dated 09.12.2009 and 08.02.2010.

The petitioners replied to the DSGMC on the same

date on which they received the offer i.e. 28.08.2010.

Their reply reads as under:

“The job offered to us is not as per the

judgment of the Delhi High Court dt.

9/12/09 & 8/2/10, in which Para 15, 17 &

20 clearly says that job should be on same

terms & conditions on which they were

10

employed when Primary school was owning

in the NDMC area. So Please give us job in

Govt/Govt-Aided School as per High Court

judgement to avoid contempt of Supreme

Court dt 9/8/10. We have also filed

Affidavit in this connection. In The

Supreme Court dt 27/8/10.”

Subsequent to this reply, there was no

communication to any of the petitioners by DSGMC.

In the absence of such communication, the offer from

the DSGMC did not exist. Hence, DSGMC is in breach

of the orders of the Division Bench and the orders

which had directed that all the five petitioners be re-

employed within twelve weeks of the order dated

09.12.2009. The said time got over on 08.03.2010.

Due to the non-compliance the second limb of the

order becomes operative. Resultantly, the petitioners

are entitled to full pay and all perquisites from

04.03.2010 onwards till 30.01.2018. Respondent no.

4-DSGMC shall, therefore, pay the petitioner nos. 1

to 5 their full pay and all perquisites in terms of the

order of the Division Bench dated 08.02.2010. The

said monies shall be paid to them within four weeks

from the date of receipt of this order. The interest on

the delay will be considered thereafter.

The due amounts shall be credited directly into the

bank accounts of the petitioners, who shall supply

their respective bank account details, to Respondent

no.4-DSGMC directly as well as through counsel.

Respondent no. 4 shall furnish the computation of the

amounts due to each of the petitioners within the next

two weeks and shall pay the due amounts by

13.12.2019.”

(emphasis added)

14. The appellant-DSGMC assailed the aforesaid order passed by

the learned Single Judge by filing a Letters Patent Appeal

7 which

was dismissed vide order dated 15

th March, 2023 for want of

7

LPA No. 732 of 2019 in Majinder Singh Sora & Anr. v. Manju Tomar & Ors.

11

prosecution. Hence, the order dated 1

st October, 2019 has

attained finality.

15. A bare perusal of the above order would clearly indicate that

the offer of re-employment made by the appellant-DSGMC to the

teaching and non-teaching staff of the school was not found to be

bona fide as the same was not in conformity with the directions

given by the High Court.

16. Thus, in the present appeals, the only issue which requires

adjudication is as to whether the appellant-DSGMC has any valid

ground so as to assail the impugned judgment of the High Court

dated 9

th December, 2009, whereby the NDMC was directed to

reimburse the pay and perquisites including the pension and other

benefits accruing to the staff of the school and “then to recover

the same from the appellant-DSGMC”.

17. Shri Ritesh Khatri, learned counsel representing the

appellant-DSGMC, while referring to Rule 47 of the Delhi

Education Rules, urged that where as a result of closure of a

recognised school, or withdrawal of the recognition, the staff of the

school becomes surplus, they may be absorbed as far as possible

in a Government school or aided school. As per learned counsel,

the teachers and other staff of the school who became surplus on

12

account of closure of the school would be entitled to the benefit

under Rule 47 of the Delhi Education Rules. Thus, in sum and

substance, the contention of learned counsel representing the

appellant-DSGMC is that the NDMC and the Director (Education),

NDMC are primarily responsible for absorption and payment of

salary and other service benefits to the staff, which became

surplus on account of closure of the school. However, we find it

difficult to sustain this argument which is fallacious on the face of

record. The closure which is contemplated in Rule 47 of the Delhi

Education Rules has to be a valid closure, i.e., having been carried

out with the prior approval of the Director as provided under Rule

46 of the Delhi Education Rules which reads as under:-

“Rule 46. Closing down of a school or any class in a school-

No managing committee shall close down a recognised school,

not being an unaided minority school, or an existing class in

such school without giving full justification and without the

prior approval of the Director, who shall, before giving such an

approval, consult the Advisory Board.”

18. A bare perusal of the above Rule concludes beyond the pale

of doubt that no recognised school or an existing class in the

school, except an unaided minority school, shall be closed without

offering full justification and without the prior approval of the

Director.

13

19. Admittedly, the school in question being run by the

appellant-DSGMC was receiving 95% grant from NDMC, and the

same was closed down without due approval of the Director

(Education), NDMC. As a consequence, the appellant-DSGMC

cannot be allowed to take the shield of Rule 47 of the Delhi

Education Rules so as to claim that the burden of re-employment

and payment of salaries of the surplus teachers and the non-

teaching staff upon closure of the school would be that of the

NDMC. The question of absorption only arises when the closure of

the school is done in accordance with law, which requires a full

justification and prior approval of the Director as per Rule 46

supra. Since the closure of the school in question was undertaken

de hors Rule 46, the argument advanced on behalf of the appellant-

DSGMC that the onus to absorb the surplus teaching and non-

teaching staff would be that of the NDMC, has no legal sanction

and cannot be sustained.

20. As a result, we do not find any merit in Civil Appeal Nos.

7442-7444 of 2012 preferred by the appellant-DSGMC, which are

hereby dismissed. No costs.

14

Civil Appeal Nos. 7440-7441 of 2012

21. The NDMC, being the appellant in these appeals, is primarily

aggrieved of the direction given by the Division Bench in the

impugned judgment dated 9

th December, 2009, that it should bear

the burden of the pay and other service benefits accruing to the

surplus school staff including the pension pursuant to the illegal

closure of the school by the DSGMC. However, we may note that a

clear direction was given by the High Court in the impugned

judgment that the appellant-NDMC would be entitled to seek

reimbursement of the entire amount from the DSGMC , because it

illegally closed the school without prior approval of the appropriate

authority.

22. This Court, while entertaining the special leave petitions, vide

order dated 7th July, 2010 had directed the appellant-NDMC to

make payment of the entire arrears of the salary/pension and

other retiral benefits to the respondents, i.e., staff of the school

within three weeks. During the course of submissions, learned

counsel representing the appellant-NDMC apprised the Court that

the NDMC has already paid the principal amount to the staff of the

school and now the only issue which survives is regarding the

interest component which was kept open for further consideration.

15

23. During the course of his submissions, learned counsel for the

appellant-NDMC urged that since the reimbursement was made in

the year 2010, DSGMC might take a defence of the recovery being

barred by limitation. However, we are of the firm view that since

this Court, while passing the order dated 7

th July, 2010 has left

the question of reimbursement of the amount being paid by the

appellant-NDMC open, the apprehension expressed by the learned

counsel representing the appellant-NDMC that its endeavour to

seek reimbursement of the amount may be opposed with a plea of

being barred by limitation, is unfounded by this Court. Since the

issue of seeking reimbursement was left open with a specific

observation being made in this regard in the order dated 7

th July,

2010, the bar of limitation would not come in the way of the

appellant-NDMC in seeking reimbursement of the amounts paid to

the staff of the school from the DSGMC.

24. Since the principal amount has already been paid by the

appellant-NDMC, there is no reason for this Court to interfere with

the direction given by the Delhi High Court for payment of interest

to the respondents, i.e., staff of the school, in terms of the

impugned judgment.

16

25. Hence, we direct that appellant-NDMC shall pay all

remaining dues including interest to the respondents-staff of the

school, within a period of eight weeks from today.

26. It is clarified and reiterated that the appellant-NDMC shall be

entitled to take recourse of the appropriate remedy for

reimbursement of the amounts paid to respondents-staff of the

school from the DSGMC, in case the DSGMC voluntarily fails to

reimburse the said amount.

27. We also grant leave to the appellant-NDMC to seek

impleadment in the pending Contempt Petition No. 805 of 2016

before the High Court of Delhi so as to seek a direction for

reimbursement of these amounts.

28. The Civil Appeal Nos. 7440-7441 of 2012 are accordingly

disposed of in the above terms. No costs.

29. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.

………………….……….J.

(HIMA KOHLI)

………………………….J.

(SANDEEP MEHTA)

New Delhi;

August 28, 2024