AHMEDABAD, Jan 23: The Gujarat High Court on Thursday dismissed a series of petitions filed by linguistic and religious minority schools challenging the 2021 amendments to the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Act, which introduced a centralized recruitment process for teachers and principals in such institutions.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi ruled against the petitioners, stating, “All the writ petitions in this bunch are dismissed.” The amendments extend the applicability of key provisions of the Act—Sections 17(26), parts of Section 34, and Section 35—to minority institutions, which were previously exempt. The State legislative assembly passed the law in March 2021, and it came into effect in June of the same year.
The schools argued that the amendments violated their rights under Article 30 of the Constitution, which allows minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. They contended that while the State could prescribe qualifications for teachers, recruitment should remain the “absolute right of the minority institution” as long as candidates are “duly qualified.”
The petitioners also challenged specific rules enacted under the amendments, including the ‘Principal in the Registered Private Secondary and Higher Secondary Minority Schools (Procedure for Selection) Rules, 2021,’ and the ‘Teachers in the Registered Private Secondary and Higher Secondary Minority Schools (Procedure for Selection) Rules, 2021.’
The State defended the amendments as necessary for ensuring a “fair and transparent process for effecting merit-based selection.” It argued that the regulations did not infringe on the fundamental rights of minority institutions but aimed to streamline recruitment practices in schools receiving government salary and maintenance grants.
The State clarified that the amendments did not affect the minority institutions’ right to form management committees and emphasized that regulations under Sections 17(26), 34, and 35 were reasonable.
- Section 17(26): Prescribes qualifications, selection methods, and appointment conditions for school staff.
- Section 34: Regulates recruitment and service conditions of teaching staff in private schools.
- Section 35: Mandates the creation of “Selection Committees” for recruiting teachers and headmasters.
Under the original 1972 Act, minority institutions were exempt from these sections. The amendments aim to align recruitment practices in minority schools with those in other institutions across the State. The ruling is expected to standardize hiring processes in schools while addressing concerns over transparency and merit-based selection, though minority groups have expressed dismay over what they view as an infringement on their constitutional rights.
